The thing between life and me
by Axeex
Summary: Giving up your own life wasn't something had ever passed by Lux's mind, let alone running away to find if her being had some control on it. [Long fic] (On Hiatus.)
1. Everybody's fool (Edited)

NOTE: 12/07/2017

 _CHAPTER EDITED: A HUGEEE thanks to onnikyla, "onni," for sparing me some lifetime and trying to get this chapter somewhat decent. We got it fixed as much as we could because onni also isn't a native English speaker, but onni gets it better than me, anyways. So, we fixed what we found. Sorry for the inconveniences. I've also got the chapter "fattier." It's relatively the same, but I just changed some words that I didn't like and improved some narration lacking here and there._

 _I also changed the first Author's Note. I was a little overwhelming._

…

 **Hello, I'm Martín. I'm not a native English speaker, so I decided to use this story as practice and, of course, for fun. Expect really horrid grammatical mistakes here and there. I get better later in the chapters, I promise.**

 **If you see any issue, PLEASE make me to know to it! Thank you!**

 **1\. Everybody's fool**

Lux walked down the Demacian streets with a steady step, avoiding people occasionally and apologizing whenever she bumped into someone. Her bright smile never faltered, shining in every corner and making her cheery mood very visible. Instead of her usual silvery armor she was wearing a light orange dress that swung gracefully in the breeze. She wore a nice pair of white heels, walking through dense crowd without any trouble. Her face was covered with blush and lipstick, which she didn't normally use, that made her look like an angel, a very cute angel.

The mass of people quickly led her walk towards the park in the middle of the city, a perfect place for her quest, allowing her to pretend to be just enjoying the day and harshly telling everyone to not disturb her in any way. It had been one of her favorite places ever since she was a toddler, when the only thing that mattered were her toys and the beautiful light that followed her to everywhere. She was in one of her best moods in months, and that meant that she didn't want to be bothered by anybody. Unfortunately, that was something people didn't seem to understand. Ignoring the curious gazes from fans and strangers alike, she made her way to a bench below a beautiful flowered tree. She sat down with grace on the wood and set her back comfortably between the curves of the bench. She sighed slowly, feeling safe, and smiled one more time, looking up to the beauty of the place, her mind wandered between unimportant and dark things that always lingered in the back of her mind, and back to the thing that really mattered.

Her date would be there any minute.

Thinking about the serenity felt weird, almost unnatural. She was actually partly proud about living her life in a way her mother would call "correct", never even dating anyone. That's why having a date was completely out of place. She just didn't have time for it. Lux had always done what she was told to, ready to satisfy whoever's wish. It was in her blood, printed forcefully deep into her brain. Either to obey orders from her superiors or either to attend any demand from the League, mostly the summoning stuff on the Fields of Justice. In fact, she felt wrong when Ezreal, all of the sudden, asked her to hang out in a… flirty way. It was spontaneous and very casual, from her point of view. It surprised her. And the whole thing between this and her actual life situation made unable to remember her last time she dedicated some time to herself, just forget everything and live in the moment, to _stop_ thinking for some time and doing things like these. That big, sad bubble that was surrounding her had suddenly fallen apart, leaving her into a sea of feelings, feelings that she was unable to recognize. The light mage was really surprised. She had never even flirted with someone, neither had she ever broken any rules. She couldn't even remember the last time she had ice cream! Maybe when the League offered it as a dessert in the dining hall...?

Well, the ice-cream didn't really matter right now.

" _Everyone is thinking that we are a couple. So why not give us a chance?_ " were the words that she was remembering over and over, the words Ezreal said to her. It was like an old mantra that sorted every though in her head. And just like that, he asked her out. It wasn't the best choice words for someone to use to ask a girl out, not quite, but it was good enough for her. He asked because he wanted to try.

Lux liked the thought of having accepted because she wanted to try it, too. Not because someone ordered her to do it, or for the good of someone, no. It wasn't something that bas bugging all the way back on her mind. She did it because she never went on a date with someone in her whole life. As bad it sounds, it is how it is.

And it wasn't the first time she was asked something like that. Her peaceful life (the most peaceful possible life when you are learning the arts of magic 12 hours a day) with her brother, was taken aback by a wave of marriage proposals when she turned thirteen years old, many of them having political agendas behind them, irremediably involving her. As if that weren't enough, she discovered that her brother was going to be sent away from her to the endless war between Noxus and Demacia. The thought of not seeing her brother and marrying a filthy stranger scared her. But against all odds, every proposal was rejected, her family shooing them without any apparent reason. Everyone was surprised when they found out, she especially. At least she was saved from marriage, and Lux foolishly believed that her family loved her and respected her decision. Now she knew that it was done because she already had a place in the military thanks to her prodigious intelligence and aptitude in combat, oh, and because their parents expect the same from her and her brother. She grew up as an emotionless child, almost brainwashed by her own country. That was an obscure stage in her life, but the League helped her embrace her past years after. That was a sad memory she is still trying to erase. It was hard.

She was completely unhappy with how she had lived her life, her control vanishing quickly as time went by. Every teen or adult should have at least one date; it was her right. It doesn't matter that she was a little late, right? That's why she accepted Ezreal's proposal. It wasn't her fault that her parents dumped her into the first military program they found, and she had an uncaring brother who only cares about Demacia. The constant need to risk herself to ensure Demacia's safety was slowly driving her insane. That's the other reason she joined the League. To be as far away as possible from Demacia and her parents, and to rebuild his relationship with Garen. But that was an ongoing process, a very slow one…

" _It doesn't matter right now. I didn't have choice,_ " she thought, trying to cheer herself up and to shoo away her dark thoughts.

One's first date was something very important for a girl or at least it was something a lot of people had told her. Lux didn't know if she was supposed to feel nervous or not, never have done like this before. Some info had leaked from Janna, her friend from the League. She was the only friend she ever had, not so experienced as Lux portrayed her, but still better than any kind of date info she could ever think of. Janna sometimes talked about this Ekko guy, and how he was "cute when blushing," and also she liked to hang out with him. At least she had a crush on someone. Lux was probably the only weirdo out here who hasn't ever experienced the slightest taste of what it's called "love."

Lux secretly looked up to her, growing in a place like Zaun and being as so kind and polite, and pretty, and well-mannered. If Janna talked about dates, she had been in one. If she could do it, Lux could as well.

Her skills in this sort of thing, however, are a total disaster, never caring to learn and not paying any attention of it since ever. She could handle almost everything that could happen, like a murder attempt in the middle of the street or crazy people starting to kill everyone out of blue, but a date…? That… was something completely new.

A few minutes were enough for her to make herself insecure, her questioning nature taking the worse out of her. She was Lux, she was never insecure. She's got superior tactics for EVERYTHING. But there she was, afraid of a date. Something she would've laughed at long time ago. What if she messes up everything? What if she does something that embarrasses her in front of Ezreal? What would Janna do?!

 _Blurry thoughts took over her wellbeing and she started to panic._ _"When you are nervous, try to count to ten and…"_ …Janna's words vanished.

She lost control of herself, her gut ordering to her to run away from the impending disaster. As she sharply stood up from the bench, making sure to keep a hand on her dress to avoid any accident, her escape was ruined when her ears picked up someone calling her. She turned her head to the silhouette of a familiar champion approaching in the distance steadily.

Ezreal confidently strode towards her, holding a bouquet of white roses in his hand. Lux's heart fluttered a bit self-consciously. The guy was attracting glances from a lot of every kind of women, looking at him with an awestruck expression and goo goo eyes, wondering where that man came from and who the lucky lady was. Lux noticed the amusing look on their faces; onlookers now jealous and envious of her, seeing the blonde approach her. She smiled at him softly and took her time inspecting his outfit, inner grading it. He was fairly normal, just wearing some tight blue jeans and a nerd T-shirt that said something about museums. On top of that he wore a black leather jacket and a cool pair of yellow sneakers. She liked his outfit, and she wouldn't hide that she was expecting something more pretentious and more... Ezreallistic? She noted that he wasn't wearing his gauntlet. That was completely breathtaking. She knew his gauntlet was like another extension of his body.

When Ezreal stopped right in front of her firmly, she wasn't greeted with the usual cocky smirk he wore on his face practically every time she had a glimpse of him, instead there was just a normal, warm smile. And it was just for _her; there was the embarrassing again_ _._ She smiled, too. At last, after a long silence of staring, he spoke.

"You look beautiful with that dress. I like it," he said softly with what seemed an honest compliment, the slightest tone of hesitance on his voice. Lux's cheeks blushed just a little, ignoring what her calculative mind locked on. That only contributed to make Ezreal's smile only bigger, if that was possible, in a pretty way. Lux cursed herself for acting like a lovestruck teen. But again, wasn't this what she wanted? "This is for you," he rushed a bit, making Lux to turn her glance below and watch him stretching out his arm to give her the bouquet. She counted exactly 12 roses. "I didn't know if you liked roses, but I picked the white ones. The lady from the store told me that means purity and innocence. It reminded me of you."

Lux was about to put on the dumbest expression she had, but she wasn't the best spy of Demacia for no reason. Her excitement only showed as another of her bright smiles as she received the gift carefully. Her hands clutched the roses like they could break at any moment. The lovely smell flooded her nose. He believed that she was innocent. That was so sweet.

"Thank you, they are beautiful," she admitted, deeply staring at them, never having a gift like that from anyone. A void in her head alerted something and her smile quickly left her face when she remembered she didn't get anything for him. "Oh no I didn't bring you anything!" she cried. Ezreal raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised with the outburst. "I'm really sorry!"

Ezreal just chuckled at her antics, getting her somewhat confused. Did she just say something wrong? Has she started already with her dumbness on the matter?! He walked to her side and pulled Lux closer to him. That only served to make her jump in response to the sudden act. The light mage looked at him with eyes wide open, asking silently what he was doing.

"Don't worry about it, I'm the one who is buying things here," he assured, making Lux shrug in embarrassment. She avoided his eyes for a moment. "After all, you are my special date, aren't you?"

Lux smiled a little and relaxed. She leaned a little into Ezreal's shoulder, enjoying the comfortable, friendly warmth that spread on her skin.

"I guess so," she agreed, barely. "Um… Shall we go? I don't want to waste the day; it is beautiful."

Ezreal smiled and nodded quickly, slightly brushing her shoulder. They both started to walk to the opposite direction to where Lux came from in a slow, comfortable pace. Lux enjoyed some moments the sunlight washing everything before she turned her head to Ezreal to quickly strike up some idle chitchat.

After talking for a few minutes, they decided to go to buy some ice cream. Lux was _very_ insistent about it and almost came up with a report of why they should so. Ezreal was completely fine with that, afraid of triggering her wrath. The girl quickly looked around suspiciously and, before even the people started to recognize them again, she casted a quick but effective illusion to bend the light surrounding them to avoid any unwelcomed gazes with a little wag of her hand. To the others, they look like just another couple waking in the park, not two famous champions from the League.

As time went by, Lux learned that Ezreal liked to talk, a lot. He talked about his job, his expeditions, his treasures, his family, his friends (not that he had that much), but mostly, about himself. However, it was very different to what the things he said in the League. In any moment he didn't sound cocky or pretentious, he was just telling her things about him with the best intentions, trying to get her to know him. She talked sometimes and answered some of his questions about her life, like her favorite color (which was yellow), and her hobbies. She surprised him when she said that she likes to sing, and that sometimes she spares some time to improve on it. However, after a little demonstration from Lux, where she tried to sing her own version of Demacia's National Anthem, Ezreal tried to tell her as kindly as possible that she was pretty good, but still had a long way to go. The light mage snickered and just laughed. Ezreal didn't try to talk about her family, and she was thankful for that.

They stopped at the ice cream stand after some minutes walking, Ezreal greeted the sir on the other side and beckoned her to pick. She pointed to her favorite flavors of ice-cream: vanilla and chocolate. Ezreal was right when he tried to guess which her most liked flavor was, and he hit vanilla, but he confessed that he didn't expect her like to chocolate. She found it strange, but it was forgotten quickly when the sweet flavor took over her tongue. The boy picked only strawberry and paid for both. They started to walk again, now with Lux having her attention divided between her food and her date, amusing Ezreal. They walked for a full hour, talking and joking non-stop, being extremely easy to do so.

Lux was having the time of her life she didn't have long time ago. So this is what she has been missing those years! If every date is like this, she is more than willingly to go out every time Ezreal asks her. It was so much fun, so different to anything similar she had tried before. They learned things about each other, making Lux feel great to know more about him. She knew those unnecessary details about someone, and not those kinds of details that she was ordered to know.

Eventually, they both finished their ice creams. Lux made sure that he was looking away and discreetly sucked her fingers, extracting any rest of ice cream that could have remained swiftly. Finally, the couple dropped the napkins in a nearby trash can. Lux sighed with a full stomach and repressed a burp, her body protested and she ignored it. That'd be unladylike.

"Do you like movies?" he asked her suddenly, looking eye contact.

Lux eyes perked up, looking at him with interest, her mind working to the speed of the light, telling the unworthy information that, again, she was unable to remember the last time she watched a movie, too. However, this time no thoughts come to her more time than necessary. Ezreal was asking her to do it _now._

"I love them," she answered, not completely honestly, but he didn't have to know that. She did love the movies she picked, but saying that would screw up the whole ambient.

Ezreal smiled to her. He grabbed Lux's hand and started to walk, dragging her with him kindly. That only served to make Lux blush in nervousness once more. Recovering fast, she started to walk again at his side, trying to not let her face be seen. He slipped out from his pocket a pair of tickets to one of the latest successful movie, _My Immortal_. She watched him, not knowing if she needed to feel surprised or not, almost starting to chirp in excitement. He was taking her to a romantic movie? A guy? Lux had never felt so eager to watch a movie in her whole life. And how in the world did she know about the movie? She might have pried into someone else's conversation, but it didn't matter right now.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw the cinema in the distance. Lux quickly rushed to the entrance, dragging Ezreal along. Ezreal swallowed his complaints and quickly gave the tickets to the ticket clerk, who only smiled at the couple and allowed them to go in. Lux whizzed through the double doors, rushing to find auditorium 2, her task being hampered by the people passing by. Ezreal took the opportunity to walk to the shop and buy some popcorn and drinks for them to enjoy. After paying for everything, he sought out his date, which was impatiently waiting next to the entrance of the room their movie was going to be shown in. He smiled sheepishly and walked straight to her side, giving to her a box of popcorn. The blonde gratefully accepted it with a smile and rushed him to get in. Climbing a little staircase, they were greeted by an almost-empty room. The only people there were very far away from them, seated down comfortably and waiting to the movie to roll. Maybe they were almost alone because the golden time of the movie was already over. When did she hear that conversation, anyways?

Lux feel a little nervous of not having anyone close to them, but the fear quickly subsided. They selected a random row of chairs and sat down.

 _My Immortal_ was a story about two lovers in an impossible relationship. The girl's parents opposed their love because the boy was from a humble family. From the first scene where the couple fell in love on first sight, the movie develops into a tragic drama. Lux found it very cliché, but still enjoyed it. Deeply, she wished something like that happened to her. Not the bad things but the romantic ones.

As the movie went by maybe too quickly, Lux experimented how Ezreal's mood changed back and forth in sync with the scenes. One particularly sad appeared on screen and she could've sworn that he was holding back tears. With an extremely amused expression, Lux paid him some glances as the heartbreaking scene stroke.

 _"Forget about your family, Amy!"_ the boy, Ben, pleaded to her dramatically, reaching up for her pale hands and pulling them on his. _"Your family won't understand our love. They're blind."_

 _"I can't just forget them, Ben,"_ Amy said, her eyes unnerving Lux with how powerful and sad they looked. She did like her blue ones, but Amy's were flawless. _"I can't turn them away… Ben… I'm sorry… They just want the best for me… Ours would never work."_

Then, Amy broke free from her lover's grasp walked away from him, getting back into the forest where her family's mansion was. Ben watched her with tears in his eyes and with one of the most heartbreaking expression Lux had ever seen on a man. She almost crushed her popcorn as she saw Ezreal cry the tiniest tear down his cheek, feeling like some kind of experiment just succeed. He soon noticed it and quickly wiped the tear away, cleared his throat, trying to be as manly possible, but failing miserably due to his still red eyes.

"Don't worry Ez, I'm not telling anyone." Lux whispered with a smile, smiling dryly at him.

He only scowled at her amused face, turning his head away to hide his blush.

Lux loved every second of the movie. After many twists, the lovers ended fleeing together in order to be happy, far away from every accusing eye, right on a forgotten paramo. Turns out that Ben knew how to get by in every kind of situation. Their families never found them.

Seeing how even they can success, very deep in her mind she toyed with the idea of flee away with someone. To run away from her responsibilities and to get some needed peace on her life. That idea was destroyed almost an instant later, her mind sense of responsibility calling her insane. She'll get executed by her own nation as a traitor. She was upset she even thought of it.

As the credits rolled they both left their seats and walked out of the cinema. Once outside, Lux warily eyed Ezreal, wondering what else he would have up his sleeve. She was eager.

By a gesture of a hand, he told her to follow him. Lux nodded, and they started walking again. She watched the sky in silence. The sun slowly approached the horizon, giving way to the moon. Lux silently questioned where they were going. But for now, she enjoyed the environment and people passing by, trying to figure their lives out just for fun.

As time went by, she noted how the people surrounding the suddenly started to change, rich folk walking all around them; all of them going the same direction as the couple. Her mind quickly deducted they were headed to a rich area of the city.

"Where are we going?" she asked, watching a big, beautiful carriage pass by. Lux recognized it as a carriage from one of the noblest family in Demacia, just a couple of steps below of them.

"It's a surprise" he answered with a complicit smile.

Lux's eyes narrowed. She didn't like surprises at all. That was mostly because almost all of the surprises she'd ever received were negative. She stopped her paranoid mind from straying off tracks. She was sure Ezreal would let nothing bad happen.

He raised his hand, offering it to Lux again. She accepted it with a smile, going to his side happily. When they crossed one street to the right quickly, trying to no get on the way of the carriages and wagons, the city was suddenly filled with an astonishing sight. Every single person showed off sickening money out from their appearances, and even some did power. Lux was glad that she was hid on the spell otherwise she'd be instantly recognized. She liked the thought of being part of something trivial, just being one of the dozens of people there, even if she wasn't the same 'kind' of person. It makes her feel normal. Ezreal being there with her makes her feel normal. Not a killer-mage-spy from her country.

She just kept walking, until Ezreal suddenly stopped, she almost continuing past him thanks to being lost in thought. Lux recovered fast and smiled shyly. He chuckled a little but let it go.

"We're here," he said, signaling to something in front of him. Lux followed his finger and what she saw almost made her to fall to her knees. Above from the enormous doors and below of the building name, was written in big, golden words " **TONIGHT: SONA BUVELLE LIVE** ".

They were in the city's theatre, _Ars Demacia._

The light mage managed to hold onto Ezreal arm, catching it just in time to avoid falling to the ground. Her mouth was open wide in amazement, her eyes reading the billboard over and over and over… Ezreal laughed loudly, forcing her to return to the realm of the living and making her blush horribly, this time being unable to hold back.

"Oh God, you look like the tomato I ate yesterday," he mocked her shamelessly.

Lux growled at him, sending invisible daggers at his head. She released his hand and crossed her arms in annoyance.

"Oh common, your face was pretty hilarious" he tried to convince her, without success. "Ok, fine, fine. I'm sorry for picking on you, okay? But you owe me one for what happened in the cinema. Don't you remember?

Lux tried really hard to stay angry at him, but he was right. Reluctantly, she undid her angry face and stared at Ezreal blankly. He gave her back the same stare, the two of them having a stare contest, neither wanting to lose. After a couple of seconds, Lux sighed in defeat and smiled a little.

"Alright," she said. "I forgive you, but just this time."

Ezreal smiled again and started to search something in his pockets. When he let her to see two tickets to the big show of tonight, Lux seemed to completely forget everything.

"Where did you get those?!" She screamed with a high pitched-voice. "I can only dream of getting those if I sell my kidney!"

"Let's just say… I know somebody. He gave 'em to me," he answered. Lux gave him a glaze flooded with suspicion, but the sight of the tickets was enough to shut her down.

She could almost feel her ears trembling with the thought of hearing Sona's music again, only having heard it three times in her whole life. One was in the super rare concert that she made long, long time ago in the middle of the street, Lux being lucky to be there. The second time was when she played in one of the many important parties between nobles. And the last time was when she played in the League when she joined.

The girl found herself having the same expectation, no matter the time.

"I've heard that you are 'The Biggest Fan' of Sona," he said, Lux smiled in embarrassment. She made it clear very occasionally "So I thought that this maybe will be a nice present for you."

If before she felt bad for not gave nothing to Ezreal, now she felt completely hopeless. He was taking her to a damn Sona concert! How could she possible make up for it?! There wasn't anything in the world she could give him to repay!

"And don't worry too much about it" he said, as if he was reading her thoughts. "You don't have to give me anything to make up for it". Lux frowned, clearly not agreeing with his words.

"But…!" she tried to speak.

"I said no," he interrupted her with a firm tone. Lux pouted at him stubbornly, but nodded reluctantly. "Good. Let's go in".

The theatre had an entry with a granite path, surrounded by a big fence engraved full of beautiful spirals. The area was adorned by elegant and big trees and flowers of every kind of Demacian color. The lights that came from light posts danced around the people, making the place almost magical. Lux's eyes were moving around, trying to see and remember everything. The only time she visited this place was when she graduated from the Magic Academy. Her parents promised her, if she was able to manage to do it with the highest grades (she needed to get herself a GOOD spot in military) they all would hang out at the place. That was one of the two presents she can remember her parents gave her, the other one being her magic staff. Obviously, it wasn't Sona who was playing in the stage that time, but Lux loved it anyway. Coming back again felt great.

The guards at the entry quickly allowed the nobles and rich families pass through their own private pathway. In the other hand for the other people, they carefully checked everyone's tickets, watching them and making sure that they weren't imposters. When Lux and Ezreal were done, they were finally allowed to get in.

A woman gathered people around her and requested everyone to follow her to the auditorium the concert would take place in. Lux looked around her in awe as she walked above the red carpet that took over the middle of the room. Ten pairs of white marble pillars with different decorations were holding up the roof. The walls were a perfect combination between white and brown and big windows let in the last rays of light from the sunset. The staircase that was in the middle of the room led to the various rooms meant for different purposes. Lux didn't remember the theatre like this, it was much better than the last time!

The woman guided them to the main auditorium, which only made Lux's amazement bigger. The amphitheater was astonishing. Surrounding a circular stage in the middle of the room, were dozens of rows of chairs in a semi-circle, making the room very similar to the foyer and the same time not. Higher up were the expensive seats, already occupied by important people, waiting patiently to everything to be set in place.

Ezreal whispered her something about find their seats. Lux merely nodded, her glance focused in the dome above of them. It was almost fully made of stained glass, with thousands of colors symbolizing Demacia and its relationship with art.

Lux sat down absently, her date only glanced at her and smiled, amused by her reaction. The murmurs that were surrounding them stopped almost immediately when the lights in the room faded a little. Lux snapped out of her thoughts and watched the stage with interest. A single light was projected to the middle of it as someone walked towards the end of it. She quickly recognized it as Sona and her instrument floating in front of her. The environment was filled with expectation as she prepared herself.

She didn't make any signal that she was about to start. Instead, she just smiled to everyone and started playing her Etwahl. Before the sound could even be registered by Lux's ears, she closed her eyes. A second later she disconnected from the world.

During the hour, Lux's mind was filled with her most happy memories.

….

Inevitably, the night had already arrived as they walked out of the theatre. The usual bustling sounds were silenced by the moon, washing everyone with its light. Lux was walking alongside Ezreal in a solitary street, the smile that the concert left on her never faltering.

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you to home?" he asked worried. Lux smiled and shook her head.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself," she answered kindly.

He smiled, troubled, his silence being the answer. They walked a couple of minutes, enjoying the silence and the sight of Demacia in the night. They watched as everyone closed their stores, said goodbye to each other and finished what business they had yet to do. In the distance Lux saw the beginning of the private neighborhood she lived in, and slowed down a bit. Ezreal imitated her as well.

"Thank you, I really enjoyed the date," she said softly.

"It's no big deal, I already told you are my special date!" he said chuckling.

Lux smiled and a hesitant expression showed on her face seconds later. They stared at each other for five second before Lux leaned slightly to him. Ezreal's eyes widened in expectance of what was going to happen, but his hopes were washed away as Lux only kissed his cheek. He blushed a little. She stood straight again and smiled.

"I'll see you later, okay? Goodbye" she said and then, she turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait!" He cried and grabbed her by her wrist.

Lux stopped and looked at Ezreal, surprised.

"Will we be going out again?" he asked hopefully, his eyes shining.

Something knocked inside Lux. Her face suddenly went expressionless, carefully watching Ezreal, trying so hard to find something wrong in him, something that could possible harm her... Her raw instincts that saved her countless times took control of her. He saw her with confusion at how she changed, but didn't say anything.

But when she could not find more than friendliness and honesty, she showed her most bright smile, the smile that was hidden years.

"Of course! Call me whenever you want!" she told him happily.

Ezreal looked at her, swearing that for a moment a strange light seemed to surround them. He knew about her special magic, but he didn't know what she can really do. He smiled; he doesn't give a damn about it. Lux turned around and started to walk to her house in the middle of the night. She didn't see the loving smile Ezreal gave her before he started walking in the opposite direction.

In a matter of minutes, Ezreal's absence was almost painfully noticeable. Her normal, little dark world returned to her with the force of a thousand tons. She looked at the white roses in her arm, not having been aware of them for the whole date thanks to the fun she had had. She smiled dryly, remembering the words he told her when he gave to her, 'Pureness and innocence'. She was nothing like that, she was pretty sure. But the effort was well received and sealed deeply into her heart.

Contrary what everyone thinks, Ezreal was right to worry about her safety. Demacia wasn't a city that was fully clean of delinquency, the closest to one being Piltover, but even they can't manage to hit zero percent crime rates. Ezreal has the right to worry about what people could try to do to her. But she was someone very dangerous, too. She could take care of herself.

In any case, no one saw her as she approached the Crownguard mansion, her magic making her invisible. Her glance not in the roses anymore, she only showed herself after being only meters away from the gate of the garden. The two guards in front of her noticed her, hiding their surprise, and stood completely straight, bowing her deeply as Lux stopped in front of them.

"Good evening, Lady Luxanna," one of them greeted her with respect, his face showing a little nervousness at the presence of her. "Lady Crownguard told us to tell you that she is waiting for you inside. She said you know where to find her."

She frowned deeply, her senses telling that something wasn't right.

"Did she say when I should see her?" she asked, her hands itching.

"She said that you have to go there as quickly you can." he answered.

She stood there for moment, thinking and thanked them. They opened the gate to let her in, and closing it quickly to avoid any problem. Lux walked around the garden, following the stone path illuminated by the fancy lights alongside of it. The path led her to the main door, however, she deviated from the road, moving away a several steps from it. She caved a little space in the grass with her bare hands with a little effort and unfolded the roses. Summoning her magic staff, she dropped them carefully in the hole. After sighing deeply, she wagged her magic staff and the magic started to appear.

Her light went down, this time being a green, thick light, and delicately surrounded the roses. Lux saw the plants slowly joining the earth and blooming, the magic making the whole process easier. Sweat started to drop from her chin, but she ignored it. When the roses were finally united with the ground, she stopped, her head hurt a lot. However, at the sight of good job, she knew it was worth it. She stared at the roses for some time, thinking about it.

Lately, she was experimenting with new magic, trying to improve her whole knowledge. The one she used was nature magic. It allowed you to control the plants and derivatives with it and make trees appear and even destroy entire ecosystems, but she still was nowhere close to that. Lux liked learning, but it wasn't like she was growing tired of her light magic. Knowledge was something that appealed to her, getting her also interested in other magic branches, there were a lot of possibilities. However, she didn't like to get out of her comfort zone this sharply. It was something just for fun.

Lux returned to the path again, trying to focus in the present. She didn't want to know what her mother would want to talk with her. Almost every time she wished to talk in private with her meant bad news. Would it be best to go away and wait for tomorrow? Maybe go to the League to spend the night there?

No, that would only make things worse. Her mother didn't teach her to be a coward.

After gathering enough courage, she scaled the neat stairs and pushed the left door. It opened with an unpleasant chirp that resonated in every corner of the room. Not minding the sound, she went in and closed the door, still feeling the need to run away. The enormous hallway didn't suit her very well, she didn't like the emptiness of it; so much space to only being occupied by paintings and solitary plants. She nodded to herself, but sighed.

Passing by all the expensive things, like a sofa made of high-paid fabric or the bear skin carpet (she hated that one). The girl started to walk up one of the two giant white stairs. She didn't want to reach the end, but she knew she had to. Just like downstairs, a great hall opened before her eyes, dozens of doors connecting other rooms it. Lux turned to her right and walked to her mother's room. Watching the doors as the way to one of the worst moments in her life that was to come, Lux knocked two times, waiting patiently for the response. Seconds later, a quiet "Come in" came from the other side.

She grabbed the golden handle and turned it, the door opened easily. Augatha Crownguard was sitting on her chair. The woman didn't make any visible move that revealed she was aware of Lux as the mage approached, but the blonde knew that her mother's almost non-existent elderly face twitched a bit. Augatha twirled around just a little, her brown hair falling down her back like a waterfall and she stared at her daughter's blank expression.

She smiled, Lux felt sick.

"Hello, my girl," she greeted with an attempt at a lovely voice. Lux repressed the need to grimace. "How have you been?"

"I'm fine, mother," she answered with fake respect, a stern tone in her voice. If Augatha noticed it, she didn't say anything. Lux was amazing at hiding it, anyway. "The guards told me you want to talk with me."

"Ah, yes," she said. She then stood up from and grabbed something off the desk. The blonde recognized it as one of the family's photo albums. What the hell? "I was just remembering the old times. Come here, Lux. Sit with me," she almost ordered, walking to her bed.

Lux silently followed her, her mind racing up and down. Something was wrong, _really_ wrong. Her mother was actually smiling to her and acting casually. She never does that, she strictly taught her to be the opposite of how she was behaving right now!

"Here," the woman said, flipping a couple of pages and showing her one of the old photos. Lux picked up and figured out that it was her and Garen, the two of them on a holiday at the Beach. Inevitably, Lux smiled, remembering those happy times when she was still innocent. She remembered destroying her brother's sand castle because he said something mean to her. "You two seemed so happy… The time goes by so fast…" she rambled.

Lux went wary again, her demeanor changing drastically one more time. She put back the photo and stared her mother.

"Mother, what's the meaning of this?" she asked, going straight to the point.

Then, she saw the woman close her eyes for a moment. Three seconds filled with tension later, she spoke.

"I heard that you went out for… quite a while," she said, not really answering and looking at Lux's orange dress with a disapproving gaze. Lux's eyes widened in shock. How did she know? Did she track her? She couldn't guess just by looking at her dress. "You don't have to explain anything, I already know."

"How?" she almost demanded, her voice rising slightly. "How did you know? I never told anyone."

"I'm your mother," she simply said with a disappointed expression in her eyes, Lux didn't like it. "It's my job to take care of you."

Lux rolled off the bed and stood up, her back facing the woman. She then started to count to ten mentally, trying to contain her anger. If a mother's job is to look out her child, then she wasn't her mother. She never does that. Not in the way a real parent would do.

Augatha closed the album and did the same, but with a disturbing calm expression.

"Please answer my question, mother," the girl said, this time turning around and watching her.

Augatha seemed suddenly defeated.

"I… asked The King to send Quinn to watch over you for me. I had my suspicions," Augatha told her, her daughter received the information and surprising stood calm, but her mind was chaotic. She knew that Valor was able to see through some of her light spells. "And I wasn't wrong. You left home at midday to meet… your date."

Lux's eyebrows frowned, puzzled. Why, having a lot of people to do the job, they send Quinn? She was such an important spy for Demacia, too. And again, what the hell The King does have to do with her?

"Ignoring that you were spying on me," she hissed crudely, making her mother frown her lips, "That doesn't make any sense," she pointed out, her head hurting as she tried to analyze the situation. "What does The King have to do with this?"

As the words left her mouth, the woman's demeanor seemed to look the worst.

"I never told you, actually…" she murmured almost to herself, but the blonde heard her. "… That doesn't matter right now. In any case, your dates with this guy Ezreal are now over. You aren't seeing him again".

"Yes, IT matters to me, mother," she contradicted. "And why, in the name of God, should I _listen_ to you…?" she accused not caring to hide the anger in her voice anymore.

Augatha's eyes narrowed. She approached one step closer, her glance filled with contained fury.

"Don't dare to talk me like that again, young lady," she said sternly. "What I'm doing is the best for you! It's the best for everyone!"

"And would you be so kind to tell me why is the best for me? And everyone?"

Augatha seemed to be taken aback for a moment. Without saying anything, she sat down again, taking some time to prepare her words. Her daughter looked at her expectantly.

"It… happened long time ago," she started slowly. She stopped again, Lux almost screaming at her to continue, but she started to speak again." After the day I give you birth, The King came personally to congratulate your father and me," she recited. Lux's eyebrows rose. The damn problem was so big? "He… made a private surprise _party_ for us after a month, only inviting people he trusts a lot. We celebrated your birth, and… your gift." Behold that, the mage stiffened. She didn't like how this was going. "Back then, we didn't believe it was magic as it is. We thought it was just a kind of blessing from the heavens. Besides, it was still kept as a secret. And then…coming closer to the end of the meeting, he went up to the stage and surprised every single person there with his next words."

At this moment, the woman was very nervous, her hands grasping the blankets of the bed, trying to relieve some stress.

"…Mother, what did he say?" Lux asked slowly.

Augatha looked into her eyes. Lux froze to the sight. Pain and sorrow, a couple of feelings that she thought never would see in her mother, were now exploding in her face.

"He said that his gift to our family and you was a… marriage arrangement. At the age of twenty-one, you are going to marry his son, Jarvan IV".

Lux couldn't move her body. She just stood here, her eyes loosing focus of her mother. For a moment, she just felt nothing, emptiness, a void inside of her. It was one of the most horrible things she ever felt in her life. It consumed her completely. This was it, right? The last thing her parents have yet to do to her, to completely ruin her.

Her body started to tremble.

"Lux…"

"No." she interrupted her, her voice almost unnatural of the rage and sadness she was feeling right now. "I… don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it anymore. I don't want to hear _you_ anymore".

She can't believe it, she really can't. But it was happening.

"We didn't have another choice," her mother tried to explain herself to her daughter for the first time of her life. Lux shook her head, with tears rolling down her cheeks. "It… would do incredibly well for us, our family…"

"Yes, YOU HAD another damn choice!" she screamed to full force right into her face. Augatha sad expression was quickly engulfed by one of anger, rushing to Lux to threaten with a slap. She stopped it in midair at the sight of the girl's pair of eyes filled with pure hatred. It was an instant, an instant in that she felt fear, noticing how the room was also starting to tremble, the lights blinking and the objects starting to swing slightly.

The room was suddenly filled with an overwhelming energy.

"Go on, do it. Beat up your little daughter, just like you usually do. Every time she doesn't obeys, a slap does it instead." she saw her mother dubitative face and smiled dryly. "What? Oh, right, I'm not a harmless child anymore. You're just a coward, like father. Abusing a little, innocent child."

Lux didn't know why, but she waited some moments for her mother to respond. To say something, anything to comfort her, anything that showed her that she regretted it. That she regretted to have destroyed her daughter's life. But no, she only saw pain because of the situation, nothing deeper.

The only thing she could think of was to flee to the place that was still secure in that hell, her room. Her back faced her mother as she stormed out the room. The hallways had never been so long and annoying, but she finally reached her destination. The door, unlike the others, didn't have a keyhole, it only opened by a wag from her wrist. She made the loudest possible sound closing it.

Not satisfied by this, she summoned her staff and, in an act of fury, she recited every defensive spell in her head. Shining magic, runes and new walls appeared, surrounding everything and locking her away from the world. Her right hand was suddenly empty, her staff forgotten in the floor. She ran to her bedside table, grabbing harshly the picture frame and took out the piece of paper in it. Her hands trembling, she watched it deeply.

In the photo were her mother, father and she, the three of them smiling. She stared at it before magic started to burn it, making holes in her parents' head. A second later, it only was merely dust in the floor. She climbed to her bed.

Lux started to cry, sobs of pain coming out from her throat, not seeming to be stopping anytime soon.

….

Lux woke up in the middle of the night, her eyes swollen by the now dry tears on her face. Blinking a couple of times, she turned her head to the door, her magic informing her that her mother tried to enter the room, without any success. Her tired thoughts contemplated the idea of lying down again and sleeping forever, but her mind refused to do it. She sat on the bed, staring into the distance.

She had had enough of her parents and Demacia. She was tired of the same thing happening over and over again. What had her parents done for her? Nothing. What had Demacia done for her? Nothing. So, what was she doing there? Wasting her life for… _nothing_? She felt sorry for all the people, but it wasn't like the country would be in danger if she wasn't there. She was tired of being everybody's fool, the one of you look for when you have a problem, and the one who you forget when everything is solved.

The movie she saw yesterday with Ezreal came back to her mind. ' _The lovers ran away in order to be happy'_. Lux closed her eyes slowly. Thinking it for a couple of minutes… The answer is obvious, isn't it? Before completely insane, now convenient. It is ridiculous, and it seemed like she was overthinking it, but what she could do, anyways? Fry her mind thinking on a better solution didn't set well on her.

Her eyes opened, something in them changed. She was no longer tired; she felt a rush of energy and expectation in her body, forcing her to stand up! Lux didn't give a second glance to her undone bed, not really caring right now. She unlocked the bathroom and walked in, covering some steps with her legs, focusing on the fancy mirror on the white wall. Her face was shamefully ugly, her make-up completely messed up. She didn't know how, but the make-up had managed to form stains along her whole face. Her lipstick was also deformed. She didn't even use it that much!

Sighing, she washed her face, the remains quickly flowing out on the drain. Picking up the towel to her side, she dried her face. The towel ended a little dirty because she didn't clean her face very well, but it wasn't big deal. By the end of the day, it will be replaced by a new one. She then looked at herself in the mirror, an honest smile greeted her. That wasn't a new Lux, it was a Lux that just broke the shell her life forced her to hide in. Or at least the one who was trying.

The girl washed her teeth before getting a deserved shower. It took her a long hour to finish, doing it carefully and gradually. After half an hour drying her body and applying creams to her skin, she got out of the bathroom, her steps guiding her towards the closet, only wearing two towels. One around her body and the other covering her hair.

Her closet was actually a room. An immense room the size of ten square meters straight. She had everything a girl could dream of. Dresses, pants, shoes, heels, shirts, jackets, hats, trinkets… She even had an extreme amount of make-up for EVERY part of the body. It wasn't like their family had that much money, but the suddenly gifts from the King made sense now. It was like he was dressing her for the funeral; a creepy way to see it.

Everything was accommodated in shelves, open closets, coat hangers, and even a little deposit at the end, storing old-fashioned clothes. At first, she was delighted when her parents gave it to her when she was a kid in her birthday, but if you ask her now, she would say that was completely unnecessary, part thinking that was ridiculous, and part knowing that her parents and the King were trying to buy her with gifts. But it was there, anyways, and she was going to give it a use.

Today, she was feeling different. She'll try hard this time. Lux passed by the cheerful clothes, ignoring everything she would usually dress, and started to look deeper in the giant mass of duds. She putted her arm inside, looking for something to wear, and she hummed happily at the sight of a dark, short dress that she even didn't have a memory of. Lux grabbed and stared the closest mirror, the dress superimposed on her. It had something that drew her attention towards it.

She rushed to the dresser (yes, she had one), and dressed quickly. Now was the time to find a pair of heels. She wasn't one for wearing them every single day, but today was another example of yesterday. A different day where she did different things. Lux didn't waste too much time thinking. She picked up two black heels from one of the shelves and putted them on her feet. Watching her reflection in the mirror, she decided it was time for make-up. The place designed for it was in one of the corner of the room. Every cream, dust, eyeliner, lipstick was located in a giant make-up desk, everything accommodated like an organ. If Lux wished it, she could extend it to sides, making it even bigger.

She analyzed herself in the mirror and grabbed a light purple lipstick to match her outfit. Lipstick down, she picked up black eyeliner, putting some in her eyes carefully. Done with that, she saw herself again, shaking her head. Her skin wasn't helping her, being brilliant and a little tanned. She summoned her staff and waved it a little, making her skin a little paler. She tried again with the mirror, this time her hair catching her attention. Her hands caught it and made of it a pigtail, but making it to go to her right side. She smiled, now she looks like a real gothic girl! Ignoring her blonde hair, of course, but it was still cool.

Leaving the closet, she put her hands on her hips, with a smile that differed greatly with her choice of clothes.

"Oh, right. The spells," she remembered.

She focused in the sensation of the magic staff in her hand and started first with the 'extra walls'. The almost imperceptible wall surrounding the room started to sink in the floor, vanishing as she talked in Latin. Then, the runes followed. These were harder to remove. She had to walk around all the room, her hand touching key points and saying the right words at the same time in order to erase them. She had to be especially careful because, if she failed doing it, the whole house could explode. The last was her magic, but the difference that it was the light itself. It wasn't like the other two defenses because, when she used her magic to manage the spells, the first one was raw magic in primitive state. It took her an hour to absorb it, but she couldn't care less. She appreciated the distraction.

The room finally connected to the rest of the world, the protective layer around her vanished. She walked and looked out of the window. It was a beautiful day outside, the sun shone more than ever, and the birds sung cheerfully. She could even see glimpses of the city far away. Then, she made another important decision. She wasn't marrying Jarvan. She wasn't taking any orders Demacia or anyone else given to her anymore. She had had enough. And it would be the best to start as fast as possible.

Going to her desk, she sat down and picked a pen and some ink. She opened one drawer and took out paper and an unfolded letter. Then, she started to write first in the back of the letter.

"To: Dante Brievare Gleyoni Buffardersi," she recited as she wrote, his name brimming fanciness off her tongue as she spelled it. Cheeky. "Founder's Office, League of Legends."

Maybe writing to the very founder wasn't the best idea, but she was doing because she had the need to let him know what she would do. She turned the paper. She didn't exaggerated writing, she just explained what she was going to do and why. It was just an announcement, making it clear that she was doing it with or without his approval. It left inside her chest an excited feeling. That last part _felt_ glorious, damn.

She finished it, doubled it and put it into the letter. She closed it with a little of her saliva and united it with one random stamp in the border. That should be enough. Focusing on her magic, light started to surround the letter and made it disappear. When the time is right, the letter will be automatically sent to the Summoner.

Now it was time to go downstairs and greet her family.

….


	2. I'm in distress

**Chapter one was a little boring at the beginning, I know, but it was necessary to start the story. So, please, if you haven't read it yet, do it. And make sure to read the note I left. Now, I hope this is a little better**

 **Also, someone asked why I started out the story with Lux having a date with Ezreal when clearly the synopsis says "Lux x Rakan x Xayah". Some would figure out and some not, but that was just necessary to Lux have her epiphany about what to do now in her life. I will be dealing with that topic in this chapter! This will definitively be Lux x Rakan x Xayah.**

 **NOTE (05/10/17) I found someone who is willingly to help me with all gramathical stuff, so you shouldn't bee seeing issues in the next chapters. The first chapters will be edited as well; I'll tell you when it's finished!**

 **…..**

 **2\. I don't want to bother you, but I'm in distress.**

Lux watched the big shelve of her room, eagerly looking for something. One minute was enough to find the book she was so self-absorbed for. The girl took it out and stroked the back cover, her fingers itching at the fine touch. Turning it around, she read the cover, which said _'My Diary'_ , making her smile. The last time she written in it was years ago, when she had time to do such an 'uncaring thing', something her mother used to call it. After her entry to the Magic Academy, her visits to the book started to get more and more infrequent. She didn't pay any thought to it, till today. She actually missed expressing herself in that pages, being the only place she was secure to do it without take a change to be reprimanded.

Opening it up, she started to read every journey of hers, smiling at the image of a little Lux having fun writing it. The childish handwriting adorned with colors and drawing, gradually disappeared, giving way to handwriting more… elegant and sophisticated; empty of any draw and wrong vocabulary. The last ten pages talked about how she was going to enter soon the academy, explaining blankly how she felt. Then, she suddenly stopped. Her mother already had her in that time.

A smooth knock sounded outside of the room, her ears barely picking it.

" _Miss Lux…?_ " a hesitant voice sounded from the other side, Lux recognizing it as the voice of Aya, one of the servants. " _Breakfast will be ready in five minutes. Please come down when you are ready._ " Without waiting response, the girl heard steps moving away from her door, letting her know the woman was already gone.

The mage sighed and closed the book, her mind starting to work, telling her what she had to do. Going to her bed, she went down to the floor and her hands started to try to catch something below the bed, grabbing a strap after a few tries. She attracted it to her and her green special backpack appeared, long time to not see it. She smiled at it, remembering how she used to take it to whenever place she'd go. It was really helpful when she packed all her toys to play in the park, or to collect shells in the beach with Garen. Now, it was completely empty, without any hint of that could have happened. It disturbed her a bit.

Catching her book again, she putted it inside of the backpack and zipped it momentarily. She stood up and started to choose things from the room, thinking of which one she should take it with her. The first was a picture of two little kids; Garen and she at the beach her mother showed her yesterday, both smiling in front of the ocean; she saved it without any hesitation; at least in that time, Garen was a true brother to her, and she appreciated it. The second one was the book Mrs. Minerva gifted her in the last year of the academy, being her graduation gift. Minerva was the only teacher with whom Lux had a bond, being the only one who cared of her and the things troubled her. She helped her in the darkest stage in her life, being completely supportive about it; that stopped her to do something; way stupid what was she doing right now.

The book was a fantasy story; the woman found out one day that she liked to read and said that she was one hundred percent sure of that she would like it. Lux was very delighted that she hit. Nowadays, _Singing Fields_ was her favorite book.

The third one was a necklace her grandmother gave her after passing out. It was a beautiful silver chain, having precious gems in the way to the end, being occupied by a big diamond gem, which was almost shining with light. She never used it before because it remembered of her. Her grandmother was the only family of her that ever loved her. Lux's eyes did almost immediately start to cry if she did even think about her elderly face, but now, she would do justice to her memory. Instead of place it in her backpack, she opened up the little black box and buckled the necklace around her neck. The box was placed carefully now in the bag, with her feeling better. And the last thing but not least some ink and a pen. She was planning to write a lot in her diary.

Zipping the bag, she dropped it delicately in the floor and focused in her magic. She couldn't just take the bag with her all the time, which would be dangerous and suspicious. Her solution was to charm the backpack to have the same spell her staff has. Every time she needed it, it would be summoned just like she summons her wand. Both will share the same space in her pocket universe. Feeling satisfied as seeing how the bag disappeared in her light, she went to the door and left her room, making sure to unlock it correctly.

Walking across the hallways never felt so good. Everything seemed to have a new meaning to her; the world was somehow different to Lux now. She even sympathize with the house that she hated all those years (excluding her room, no one can enter that place now). Every step makes her feel safer, confident, just like how she used to pretend all time.

The sunlight that entered thanks to the giant window above her washed over Lux as the mage descended the stairs, the sound of her heels hitting the marble making her presence known to everyone in the house. Her hand stopped leaning into the big railing of the stair as she arrived the end of it.

She walked straight to the dining room, getting gazes of confused maids, but bowing at her as always. She only answered it with one smile, secretly excited at the attention she was receiving. The dining room was, as always, giant. A large table occupied almost all the room, having only three chairs distributed this time. Two chairs were at the end of it, where her parents sat, and the other one was in the opposite direction, which was where she was sitting.

Her father and mother were already in the room as she entered it. Her faces at the first look of the morning of her were priceless. Her mother left in halfway the piece of fruit she was eating, dropping it to the floor and stared at her with mouth wide open, her eyes like dishes. Her father was a more discreet, with still obvious to her eyes, which saw his usual stoic expression changing to a frozen one. Her neck twitched at her mother's eyes watching her necklace.

"Good morning, father, mother," she said with a tiny smile, sitting down in her chair, distracted by the maid that got out of the kitchen and served her, from a silver stray, various type of food, such like fruits, toasts, and a great variety of jams. When the maid picked a pitcher full of coffee to fill her tiny cup, Lux stopped her kindly.

"It's ok, I can do it by my own," she told her, watching the woman giving her a look of surprise, but nodding nonetheless and bowing to everyone before she went to the kitchen again. Lux picked some pieces of apple and munched them silently. Two peacefully seconds passed before her father, Vicent, spoke.

"Lux," he said, his deep, serious voice echoing the room. "What's the meaning of all of this?"

The blonde's face perked up, watching with innocent eyes the defined face of her father. She smiled, making his eyes narrow. Augatha only watched the exchange between father and daughter with her mouth closed, not daring to interrupt.

"About what, father?" She answered almost foolishly, dodging on purpose Vicent's question.

"You know what I'm talking about," he said, his eyes watching her outfit. "Don't dare to play with me."

Lux blinked. "Oh, this?" she said, looking at her clothes. "It's no big deal; I just have the wish to wear it."

Her father sighed, for a moment having the same face her mother had tonight after the bad news. He settled almost uncomfortably in the chair, exchanging a little gaze with her wife.

"Your mother told me what happened yesterday. I know you're upset, but…"

"About that," she interrupted him, making his eyes glow with stern questioning, wanting to know why she do that. "I apologize for my behavior last night. I… freaked out, and it was unfair to both of you, especially you, mother," she finished, this time glancing at Augatha.

Both of them saw her confused.

"Aren't you angry, Lux?" Augatha said carefully, testing the waters. "Last night, you… were quite upset."

The girl in question shook her head slowly, smiling.

"After thinking about it, I found out that I was very unfair with you, mother. As you told me last night, none of you had any option to deny The King. That would complicate our position as one of the best nobles in Demacia. What would everyone think that about you denying your daughter the possibility to marry The King's son?" She said with an unnerving smile that went unnoticed to his father but not to her mother.

"Indeed, Lux," Vicent said with a little smile in his lips, believing everything Lux said. "That would put us in a very delicate situation. I'm glad you understand it."

Her mother wasn't thinking the same way, nonetheless, but said nothing. The light mage cursed mentally at the sight of the wary eyes of Augatha. After all these years, she was still her mother and she knew her a little, she like it or not. However, the girl decided to ignore it for now and focused in her breakfast. She then grabbed the pitcher and started to fill her cup of coffee.

"In one week, there will be a party to celebrate the son of The King and you in compromise. Your brother will arrive tomorrow to attend the meeting," The conversation continued, Lux receiving the information calculatingly.

"I see," was her only answer, before taking a sip of her drink and closing her eyes for a moment.

So Garen was coming, uh? Does that mean he knew about the whole marriage thing? Probably, he is the best friend of Jarvan. She didn't know what to think about this anymore; why didn't he told her? Her parents prohibited him to do it, or he just doesn't care of her? In any case, she will found out soon.

"The preparations for the wedding will start after the party. You will be marrying in one month," Vicent said, not before drinking a good amount of coffee and biting his fruit.

She will be marrying in one month, and she found it out yesterday. The life has unexpected turns, uh? She had some, too.

"Then I have to prepare myself, too!" she answered with her cheery mood.

Her father only nodded at her, used to her bursts of joy. Everything went silent again.

God, she needed a toast right now, her stomach was hurting. Her hand quickly found the piece of bread and a butter knife. Her eyes traveled across the table till found what she was looking for: strawberry jam, her favorite. Lux's eyes sparkled with the first sight of happiness in the day, and her body quickly reached for it. None of the three noticed the blue light that started to appear behind Lux, not watching how the odd thing started to surround her body.

"Lux, honey, would you please pass me the su…?" Augatha started to talk, but the words ended in her tongue at the moment she saw her daughter.

Lux was already going to bite the toast, but hearing her mother talk, her head turned around to her to answer.

"Yes…?" But the light shined, engulfing her and making her disappear.

….

Just a moment later after what happened, Lux figured what's going on. She was about to eat her blessed toast, but then unfortunately her mother interrupted her, trying to ask her something. She was going to answer, but everything went blue and she felt her body travel into empty space before landing into a fountain stone. That only could be one thing.

" _Dammit, I totally forgot it!_ " she screamed horrified in her mind.

When her eyes where finally managed to see correctly her environment, she was greeted by the Fields of Justice full of life. She had one match today, scheduled at nine of the morning. And by not attending at time in the League, she was summoned perforce.

Her toast was quickly forgotten, her mind thinking at the speed of the light, ordering her face to look around. The first thing she focused was Caitlyn looking at her with one eyebrow raised, her lips furrowed. Vi at her side doing the same thing, but not caring to hide her surprise, chocking a little.

"So, Blondie had hidden fangs, uh?" Vi said, mocking at her shameless. Catilyn shook her head.

"Vi, honey, that's not very nice," Caitlyn reprimanded her. The pink-haired woman only shrugged, but didn't say anything.

Lux only could flush in embarrassment, not really knowing what to do.

"Oh, don't be so rude at Miss Lux, girl!" Braum's friendly voice echoed through her ears behind her, already buying in the shop. "I like your new style! Don't you think the same as me, my friend?" He asked to the top ally, Tryndamare.

"Huh, whatever, if she's feeling dark, let her be. Now, I want to slice something!" he said waving his blade with an excited expression. Braum only laughed at his antics, walking towards Caitlyn's side.

Lux slapped herself mentally and recomposed herself, munching her toast savagely and trying to be as cool as possible, failing miserably thanks to the rest of her poor breakfast in her lips. That was the obvious reaction; she was supposed to be prepared!

"Don't worry, guys, I'm still the same" she said with a smile, light shining around her, making her election of clothes even more odd. "Puns of light included!"

"I wasn't expecting anything else," the sheriff of Piltover said with a tiny smile, Vi saying an "yup" beside her. Lux felt a little better.

After the little commotion, everyone went to their business, focusing in the match. Lux ran to the shop and bought the Doran's Ring, some potions and rushed to the mid lane, smiling as always. Even Tryndamare wished her good luck, saying that he also felt _off_ today. This was going to a good day, and no one will ruin it!

Today, her opponent was Zed, that guy with the shadow tricks. A rough match at the early battle, but nothing she couldn't handle in the beginning. Against him, it was a competition of who was the one to get its ultimate first. She will be screwed if Zed's shadows appeared behind her unprepared, because he can even do it if she below her own tower, using his shadow to run away after the damn Death Mark was on her. But as so she can do it, too, her Final Spark was nothing to disparage at all! Nonetheless, she came to the end of the second tower of the midlane and waited patiently to the minions come by, humming a random Sona's song. When the little suicidal came by, she summoned her staff and slowly followed them, making sure to stay behind them to avoid any unpleasant shuriken.

As the three first minions crushed to their counterpart and started to fight each other, she saw him. Almost emotionless as every time, the only hint of recognition of her new outfit were his red 'eyes' at his mask narrowing just a little. Then, he did just keep his distance of her, knowing that at the beginning he can't do anything to harm at her.

Watching something as crude and bad as Zed, she felt a feeling flowing in her body, making her smile with complicit. Emotionless was now one of the things she wanted to erase of the world, just like darkness. And Zed had a lot of it. One of the best ways to make anyone to react was to make them angry.

"Hey, Zed!" she screamed. "Why don't we just stop this pointless fight and play rock, paper and scissors? Don't kill me if I win!" she taunted, not sounding like one, but as a friendly request.

He even didn't look at her.

"No? Aw, too bad." She said sadly, forced to stay focused in last-hitting the minions.

The time passed by, and at level three, things started to get a little hot in the lane. Lux managed to ward a bush before a shadow rushed to her. She dropped a girlish scream before sidestep out of the two shurikens aimed at her neck. Feeling indignant, she countered him with a Lucent Singularity, exploding it instantly and hitting him straight into the face, making her to laugh hysterically. Hit someone with that spell was SO easy!

"That's wasn't very polite!" She cried dramatically, avoiding his shadow and starting to run at him to aim an auto-attack, Zed running away from her as quickly as he can, both of them looking ridiculous.

The light that was shining on Zed faded, making Lux to give up on her chase and go back to safety to finish off some minions. He tried to come back a little closer, but she didn't allowed him to do it, sending piercing glares at his direction. The wave of minions was in her favor, and he can't use his shadow to run away if she gets too close to attack him with her Light Binding.

 **"Don't stay too close to the tower; I don't see the enemy jungler anywhere."** A voice echoed in her head, making her mouth open wide in happiness.

 _"Oh, hey there, Noz!"_ she greeted her summoner. " _You were quite silent today… You too are shocked?! I never thought that I was so popular!"_

 **"No. Actually, I like what you have done. Keep the good work. And don't forget the jungler!"**

 _"Alright, alright."_

Lux stepped back a couple of steps and throw a Lucent Singularity to the un-warded bush, making sure that Lee Sin wasn't waiting there to punch her in the butt, before putting a ward in it, too. More confident, she smiled and came back to the lane, keeping one eye on Zed.

Several minutes passed by and Zed behavior changed significantly, starting to be more aggressive, like when you discuss a drunken man about sports. This only would mean one thing: he's ready to ult her. How she know that wasn't a possible ambush of Lee Sin? Because she already knew Zed, he was so obvious at her eyes. You can learn a lot of things from someone just fighting him. That was the signal to stay back and play safe; she also has got her Final Spark, but it wasn't that easy to use as Zed's. This is where the monotonous part starts.

Shurikens here, shurikens there and Lux was bored. She just couldn't do anything, the limitations of the League hitting hard on her. If she just could make herself invisible… Even her light are able to vanish Zed's shadows, but not here. She needed help from Vi or to him making a mistake. But Zed, doing a mistake? He would never risk himself diving into her, she would just instantly root him and the powerful shots of the tower would finish him off. After a few minutes, he seemed to get bored, too, because he just turned around and ran to his tower, probably recalling. She should do the same.

After farming, Noz activated the recall spell. Looks like both junglers won't be in midlane anytime soon.

After landing again in the stone, she quickly bought one Seeker's Armguard and, what left of gold, some boots, before starting to going back again to the lane. She was interrupted by, again, a blue light starting to surround her. She recognized it as the Teleport Spell. Noz choose it instead of Barrier or Ignite?

 _"Great! Where are we going?!"_

 **"Miss Fortune and Soraka are chasing Caitlyn and Braum. They don't know that the upper bush is warded, go there and help them."**

 _"Got it! I'm on the job!"_ She laughed at her pun, mocking Caitlyn.

The light quickly surrounded Lux and teleported her to the hidden ward, being considerably faster than the last time thanks to the short distance. Her respiration went, her body holds still like a statue and her sharp eyes caught the sight of the backs of the two unaware enemies. Her hand itched, she wanted so bad to twirl her wand!

Soraka's Equinox managed to catch Caitlyn, rooting her to the ground. The mage can even smell the state of panic of Braum, his kindly nature billing him. Before Miss Fortune were able to land the decisive shot, Lux quickly jumped out the bush.

"Stop there!" she screamed, her voice surprising the enemy. "You evil!"

However, as both of them quickly turned around to face the danger, their fight stances broken as they looked at her. Sara's face was priceless, her mouth was forming a perfect 'O' and her eyes were watching her exaggeratedly. Soraka only had a partially confused expression in her face.

"What the hell?! Lux, are you?!" Miss Fortune accused in some way. Soraka shot her a reprimand gaze, already resigned. They we're already dead, anyway.

Lux's smile went bigger.

"I KNOW, you like it?!" Lux squealed with an extreme excited voice and hugged her arms before spin around herself, moving her hips.

Catilyn slapped her face, not really believing what's going on and forgetting momentarily she was about to die. Braum laughed loudly, enjoying the show, his brain didn't forgetting Caitlyn, though.

"Well, it strangely suits on you… weird," was the answer of the red-haired woman, her face still incredulous.

"Yes! And…!"

 **"Just finish them off already!"** Noz screamed in her head, making her boggle a little.

"Oh, Right! I'm sorry, guys!" She said before moving her staff towards both of them, catching them with a shining spell.

Miss fortune's eyes widened and turned around to shoot Caitlyn, but Braum, stronger thanks to the little intervention, jumped in front of her and take the shoot with his shield. She pouted before Caitlyn quickly shot both of them to get an assist, giving way to Lux' Final Spark to erase both of them from the battle, scoring the first blood to Lux and a Double Kill.

After standing up in the ground again, Lux laughed.

"That wasn't very bright of them" she said, almost regretting what she had done, but accepting it anyway.

"Lux, careful, behind you!" Caitlyn screamed to her, making the girl in question to turn around her head and watching Zed's shadow above her.

Oh boy, that was karma, wasn't it?

Three seconds and a lot of shurikens later, her body went to the ground, dead, and fading quickly in light. Zed disappeared; none of her allies being able to do anything. It was too risky. The word went gray, but Lux laughed, ghostly.

 **"That was a dumb way to die, you know. You aren't taking this seriously. You never do".**

 _"Oh, don't be such a killjoy! It was fun; I scored to my team two kills!"_

 **"In any case, this is just why no one wants to summon you, you realize?"**

 _"And that's why you're my friend"_ she said cheerily, imagining how he rolled his eyes.

However, after the little feeding from her, the rest of the fight went exceptionally. Not caring too much about her death, Lux just keep on the protection of her lane and helping out those who were in trouble, being the personal assistant of Vi, to her amusement… and also irritation. She was a prideful woman, so she did take it a little bad. It was so boring to stay in one lane and wait for her opponent to come, so Lux simply ignored her complaints and made jokes the rest of the battle. It looked like Zed was doing the same, because none of them face each other alone; she was a little happy for that. Fighting him requires her effort, and she wasn't really in the mood to do it.

The match ended with the victory of Lux's team, thanks to the little advantage Caitlyn got in the assistances and the light mage's help in every lane. As the enemy nexus exploded, the blue light wrapped on everyone, making them disappear from the field.

…..

Once Lux opened up her eyes, she was greeted by the Summoning Room of the blue team, the place she had supposed to attend hours ago. As she examined the room, she noticed the five summoners of her team waiting for them; her allies still teleporting to the place because the blue light was there.

She paid no attention to everything except the tired face of Noz, a couple of meters of her position. His eyes told everything. She did make her staff disappear and approached him, not with a smile but a sad expression.

"You… saw everything in my mind, don't you?" she asked, almost scared about his response. His answer was a slow nod, not looking at her for a couple of seconds. Lux's heart felt heavy. "…I have to do it, you know?

Then he looked at her again, his gaze not being an accusatory one, but just as compressive as always. She felt instantly better.

"Come with me, let's have a walk," he said to her with an encouraging smile. She nodded.

Both of them exited the room, the hallways of the League becoming visible to them. Lux walked slowly, her gaze focusing on the floor and not to the man in her right side. None of them talked before they left the main building, making sure to take the desert paths of the building to avoid anyone.

The outdoors of the League was surrounded by an endless forest, with a very well located path that leaded to the closest city. They went down the giant stairs, Lux watching how the sun slowly rising in the sky. She smiled inevitably. None of them walked to the path; instead they just went in the forest without looking back.

For a couple of minutes, they just walked silently, Noz probably thinking and Lux self-absorbed, loving every single bit of the place. She always liked to be in nature, even since she was very little. She liked to run in the forest and get lost for a good amount of time, clutching down in the grass and smelling the greatness of her surroundings. And then, when the night came, she watched the stars, liking how they shined in the middle of the darkness, like keeping her company.

This was the place she sometimes practiced her Nature Magic, feeling in her heart that was one of the best places to do it. There, she almost could hear how every single living thing whispering to her ear, telling everything. She could swear that the forest welcomed her every time she went in; her feeling her environment changing and following her as she passed by. More… alive.

She find herself walking with not a random course, but to an almost planned path directly towards a big roc in the green pasty ground, it upper part being perfect to sit for a moment. She sat down, with her company following her a second later.

The wind howled, a large breeze passed in front of them, taking away dozens of leaves. Then, Noz spoke.

"There's nothing I can say to convince you?" he asked, his voice hurt.

Her smiled erased and she repressed the sudden sadness flowing in her body. She did a huge amount of effort to not cry there.

"No… I'm really sorry, but I have to do this," she said with a soft voice, watching how her first summoner dropped a tear, washing away with his hand quickly.

"Then what do you need?" he rushed to tell her abruptly, surprising her.

She moved closer, putting a reassuring hand in his shoulder.

"You don't have to…"

"You don't tell me what I do," he interrupted her coldly.

The girl wrinkled her lips and withdrew her hand back to her side again. She shrugged for a couple of seconds, thinking her next words.

"I need to hide myself the longest time possible. So I'll need some books to… investigate a couple things," she murmured.

"Ok, then…" he spoke immediately.

Noz started to look for something inside his black robe, his hand moving a couple of seconds before taking out a black card. He waved his other hand over it, making purple, black and white runes to appear. The runes adhered to the card, making it to glow a little just for one moment. Finishing it, he extended his arm and gave it to Lux, who accepted it with a skeptical gaze.

"This is a special pass to the restricted zone of the library; you need it in order to access," he explained, making Lux's eyes wide with surprise.

The restricted zone of the library had that name for a reason. There, was the most dangerous, harmful or even powerful books in the world, all of them reduced in one place. She heard some stories of it, but she never thought it would be real. In that place, she should find what she was looking for. But it won't be so easy, right?

"However, it will be difficult to even enter," he confirmed her suspicions. "I'm going to kick this off saying that the entry is hidden; only few summoners have the knowledge of where is it, not the founder, not anyone like him. And fortunately, I know where it is, but I never went in."

"You're going to get in trouble," she didn't ask, she assured. The card felt like burning now in her hands.

"I already told you, I do whatever I want," he said contemptuously, answering not even a second later. "Besides, no one will know if you keep it as secret. You are the best for that, right?"

Lux tried to smile, but instead she did make a weird grin, showing her discomfort.

"Still…" she left the card in the stone, sliding it to Noz's side. "I don't want to cause any trouble. I'll get by in some way."

"Lux, girl, just accept it," he slipped it back, sighing exasperatedly. "You aren't doing anything, is me who is risking to get in trouble, understand? You ain't in a place to choose; you are running out of time!"

The mage stubbornly frowned, doesn't liking it even an inch, but he was right. In one month, she will be marrying with Jarvan, without having an advance in her plan of escape. She never had one fully planned. Yesterday was too overwhelming to her head. Now is when she thinks carefully what to do.

"…Alright. I'll take it," she said, regretting instantly, but knowing that there wasn't a way back. "But I must ask how trustworthy is this... information?" She said hesitantly.

The man bit his lips for a moment, not looking at her.

"Well…this is one of the most confidential information of the League, which no one besides summoners has to know," he answered, making Lux's eyes shine in curiosity. "The thing is… There's a reduced group of summoners that disagree with the League's methods of peace. You know, violence to solve violence…" He seemed to find hard to tell her the next words. "And this kind of information scatters quickly… It's trustworthy, don't worry"

The mage twitched her face, out of words, but shrugged anyways.

"I'll accept it if is from you, then" she chuckled.

Noz smiled, relieved.

"Now, pay attention, what I'm going to tell you is very important," he ordered, making her to sit straight and watch him with a direct gaze, a habit she had taken during her time in training. "First of all, the entry is in the library, something you surely had found out, right?" she nodded, making him smile a little. "To get in, you need to walk close to the end of it, in the section of 'Infamous people'. As I told you before, it's a secret way; almost the whole League itself doesn't even know it. They use they own way."

The girl frowned in confusion.

"I didn't know there was a section like that," she pointed out.

"The librarian never say nothing no anyone. And of course, don't ask her where it is, or don't let her see you… or things would become a little… problematic," he warned seriously, making her to nod. "You just enter and talk the path of the section 'Spells'. You will pass by the section 'Potions', then 'Dark Creatures', and you will be arriving at a dead end. You turn to you right and you will see a naked stone wall. You need to knock it twelve times and put the card in the middle. It will consume it, so you had only one chance got it?"

"Understood," she simply said, reviewing what he said.

"And one last thing," he snapped her out of her thoughts. "While I don't know how it is inside because I never went in, I know that there is a magic barrier surrounding the whole thing. If you enter, you probably only would have five minutes before they knowing it; but that doesn't really matter. If you manage to escape, they shouldn't suspect of you, _sunshine_.

Lux's eyed narrowed and smiled sarcastically.

"Ha, ha, you are so fun," she said coldly.

But he was right. She had a respectable image in the League, outside of the matches, of course. There, she was hopeless, none summoner picking her besides of Noz, but outside, she was still Luxanna Crownguard, the daughter of one of the noblest families in Demacia. It would be considered dumb to accuse her.

"I know you love me," he said with a tiny smile. "But this is important: if the magic barrier detects a book being taken, it will strike an alarm and the room will be sealed. If that happens, you will have to sit down and wait for your sentence".

"So I need to think how to escape with the books…" she almost cursed. "Wait, I have a plan."

Noz smiled and patted her shoulder a little.

"Of course you have one," the man chuckled a little, making her smile. "Oh, and I suggest you to do it tonight. There will be a meeting and it's mandatory to attend. I guess that should make you job easier."

"It will."

….

No one was there as she walked in the silent hallways of the building, wearing her usual stealing clothes, an affectionate name she liked to call it. There wasn't any sound as the figure with a brown hood made her way straight to the library, her steps being silenced expertly, being used of it, the hour being 19:30 exactly. The library closes at 20:00, so she would have enough time to steal what she needed it. There will be no errors doing her job.

Her blue eyes focused intently in the double doors that were already opened, a faint light of the wall alongside illuminating it barely. When she went it, the librarian was sitting in her desk, writing something in notebook and completely self-absorbed. She didn't notice anyone entering the room and quickly going to the massive bookcases. In a crazy habit, Lux putted her hood up and smiled amusedly, feeling safe with not just her invisibility, but also with her hood covering her face. She can't just do this without it.

The League didn't spare any money for the Library; they went very far doing it. The place was simply labyrinthine, making anyone else felt instantly lost; but she wasn't anyone else. The brown bookcases were at the height of minimum five meters every one, making it hard to the light to light the narrow paths. She didn't have any trouble to that, thankfully.

The section of 'Basic Spells' appeared at her gaze; a signal was in one of the bookcases, pointing out the beginning of it. She walked for almost five minutes, repressing the need to start to run desperately. She glanced at her wrist, the watch Noz gave to her shined for a moment. It was 19:36 and she still wasn't in the entry. The card in her pocket felt heavy, so Lux rushed her walk.

The sections 'Potions' and 'Dark Creatures' were easily forgotten by the girl, not paying more than a gaze to it; she know everything she need it for. Spotting the dead end in the distance, Lux felt relieved when she turned to her right and saw the familiar sight of the stone wall Noz told her. It was unnerving how well hidden it was, but looking unnatural at her focused sight now. Her hand quickly reached for the black card, taking it out of her blue pocket and grabbing it firmly. Then, she knocked twelve times slowly with her soft hand. After finishing, she did take a step back and waited a second. Nothing happened. Not letting her hopes fall down, she putted the card in the middle of the wall, crushing it a little and waiting for something to happen. Three seconds later, the card magically adhered into the wall, making the stone bricks to creak silently in a strange way. The bricks contracted itself to the other side, making slowly a hole in the in the wall. At first, the other side was completely in darkness but suddenly, torches in the new path went on one by one, showing a narrow way to an ancient door at the end.

She keeps on her walk slowly, analyzing everything warily and being careful to not touch anything more than necessary. The way to the door was shorten than she thought, everything distracting her. She stopped in front of it, watching one more the time in her watch. 19:42; she had to hurry. Activating the chronometer, she counted exactly five minutes. Stopping for a moment, she remembered her plan and smiled. The chronometer was activated as she opened up the door and closed it, being already inside.

When she turned around, she didn't feel surprised at the sight, but a little afraid. The secret library was a darker, creepy version of the normal one. The bookcases were amazingly shortened, just 2 meters long. The whole place would be in darkness if it wasn't to glimpses of light moving in the hallways. In a second, her mind registered everything quickly; she had to move now. Five minutes.

She summoned her staff and started moving at the closest faint of light, hiding behind of one bookcase and peeking through its edge, expecting a summoner patrolling the zone. She was wrong; however, it wasn't someone but a ball of light floating gracefully in the air, moving slowly through the place, passing by the bookcases and study tables.

She almost cursed; Noz didn't tell her there were alarms in the middle of the room! But it was obvious, even to the dumbest one. She didn't know the range of detection, but she assumed it was where the light reaches from. Maybe her magic could trick it, but she wasn't taking any chance.

Her face contracted funnily at the sight of the light approaching, almost touching her left cheek. She quickly turned around and started to move the fastest possible, her eyes looking for a place where was safe to start her search. Four pair of bookcases later, she found an empty hallway, without any light at sight.

She passed by every book, map, scrolls, looking desperately for something useful. Her watch vibrated, telling her one minute has passed. Lux started to feel nervous, but she forcefully did keep her face blank. Everything was horrible organized, nothing associated with nothing. She saw a book about prohibited magic, and then there was another one talking about geography.

She walked what seemed an eternity, but she finally found what she was looking for. It was in the middle of an old shelf, oddly shining a little and it looked handmade. Its title was simply ' _Your magic'_ in Latin, written in a way she would qualify deplorably, but it was at least understandable. She picked it up and quickly went to the closest table, putting the book down in the wood. She summoned her staff and pointed it right to it. This is where everything will be decided; this was her win card.

If Noz was right about what he said, then it was impossible to steal something from there, the alarm will sound and it will trap anyone. So, she just needed to cheat the magic barrier. The light from her staff appeared and rushed to the book, engulfing it. Then, the book started to dissolve slowly into her light, vanishing completely after five seconds. The light floated in the air before it was absorbed by her staff, making it disappear. She smiled, and almost started to run to the exit when something caught her sight.

When you read dozens and dozens of book, you got the ability to differentiate the good ones and the bad ones with just looking at them. That was happening right now to her, but strangely stronger the feeling. She walked a couple of steps before took out a book of the others, reading the title quickly: _'The Magic of Elements'_.

She shouldn't be doing this, her watch remembered her she only had two minutes left, but she just couldn't help it. She hugged the book for a second and quickly repeated the previous process, taking the book with her. Feeling great, she turned around, only to face one orb of light floating in front of her. Immediately, the white light went red.

Now, she allowed herself to be scared for the first time in years.

She started to run crazily, passing by the light and not waiting what it would do. The place now suffocated her; it was a horrible way to flee from it. Every light was now red, and all of them seemed to follow her, not letting her go.

Her watch vibrated for the last but one time. She fought the need to start to cry right there and tried to go back in her footsteps, her mind telling her where to go in a way of chunks of information, confusing her momentarily. Her hands went sweaty, her lips dried and her steps were unnatural, but she sighted the ancient door in the distance. She was beside it in an instant, her hand quickly reaching for the knob. It was closed. She froze.

She almost dropped her staff, her mask quickly falling apart. Her legs almost gave up, but miraculously went still. Lux's demeanor darkened a little, the shining image of her faded away. She was now aware of the darkness around her, making her feel afraid of something that came out of it and harm her. Her gaze was blurred, her mind wasn't thinking anymore, forgetting everything that would be useful in the situation.

She couldn't end there, but she was destined to it? She… she couldn't let her hopes down, not wanting to stand what would happen next if she stays there. But… she was tired… The door…

The darkness blinded her for a moment, but it stopped a moment later. She just ignored it, but feeling the last hope in her still fighting, she tried one more time to open the door. Her hand lazily grabbed the knob and turned it. It was opening now, actually, without any problem, surprising her greatly.

Her hopes immediately kicked in, making the world clear again one more time, making her Luxanna again. She didn't pay any though to it, she just opened it and ran into the hallway, closing it with a loud bang, just as a familiar blue light started to appear behind her.

She ran and ran, passing by the hole in the stone wall; everything seemed how it looked minutes ago. She ran through the library, arriving at the entry in record time. The librarian wasn't there when she looked, but the girl didn't care. The doors were open, and she used them while she can, crossing them with long steps and almost kissing the floor below her. More than ten seconds later, both doors closed themselves, locking the library away.

She kept her breath for a moment, just thinking. Then, she made herself invisible again and prepared herself to ran, but the hallways suddenly were filled with loud footsteps, every one of them leading exactly to her direction. She ran to the left side, hiding her magic signature the best as she could to avoid being discovered.

She took the path to the opposite direction from her chasers were coming, the one she did use after getting out the library in her 'normal visits'. Her safeness was now in the bathrooms of the second floor, the one who were currently unused; it was a perfect place to set a special escape.

The girl made a special portal there. Lux made sure to hide it very well before the night of the job, just to escape from the building and the summoners' magic. She wasn't fool; she knew that after them knowing that someone stole from their secret library, they will seal the League, trying to avoid the thief escaping with such an important things. The portal was very special because it had a special link that was impossible to break by normal means, only possible at the place it was. When they raised the barrier, the link won't will pass unnoticed. And that also makes the link traceable. If she connected the portal directly to her room, she will be quickly discovered and punished. So her choice was just to connect it to Asthangi, the closest town. Then, she just had to go back to Demacia without using her magic because, again, that was also traceable. That's why she stolen the books, to make herself unattainable, to be un- traceable. It would be stupid to flee away and then be quickly trapped again. Also, the portal was made of runes and activated by the local magic of the crystals of the League, so that gave her a nice way to cheat them. She just hoped that would give her enough time to get away.

After turning in the right hallway, the vestibule was at sight, her eyes quickly catching guards watching everything. Thanks to her, they were just guards, nothing she couldn't handle. Her invisibility quickly did the job, allowing her to avoid every one of them and make her way directly to the giant stairs, moving her to the second floor. There, she just turned to her right and ran to the end, the sight of the bathroom making her more secure.

Looking around her for any unwelcomed gaze first, she opened the door and closed it, her steps following the path to the last cubicle. She went in and leaned her back in the door, sighing deeply. Looking into her pocket again, she took out a piece of paper with has written an ancient rune. Turning around and smashing it to the wall of her left side, the rune shined and made other runes to appear as well, every one of them in an oval pattern. She touched the upper one and the cubicle shined for a moment before a white portal appeared inside of the scriptures. Without hesitation, she entered it, the portal quickly disappearing after.

One second she was in one clean and neatest bathroom, and then she was in a filthy one, her nose quickly flooded by a horrible smell. She held her nose before opening the new door of the new cubicle she was, appearing in K' rok bar's nasty bathroom. She exited the toilet, with her invisibility spell down, and walked to the corner that was alongside the exit door, bending down and pulling out a tile of the floor. There, she grabbed a black cap and put it on her body. Putting back the tile, she stood up and passed by the door, walking to the main door that leaded to the streets, not having time to be amused at the strange faces of those clients who saw her exiting the men's bathroom.

Asthangi wasn't the best town you could find, but served to her purposes right now, which was to find a lift to Demacia or the closest place possible. The streets were almost empty at eight o'clock at night, everyone afraid of bandits and thieves, only few people around.

The dark figure walked quickly in the moon light, avoiding people and not apologizing if she bumps into someone, she hadn't time for that. However, a big, fat and gross man saw glimpses of her blonde hair and smiled only with five teeth, walking to her. Lux reprimed the need to sight irritably.

"Oh, whaddya have here, girlie…?" he babbled, his breath filled with alcohol. Lux ignored him and passed by his side, trying to get away, but he grabbed her wrist with force. "Tch, you bitch! C'me here!" he screamed and tried to grab her back.

Lux turned around and smashed his nick with her fist covered with her hood, hitting in the nerve. The bulky man dropped in the ground a second later, his body still, almost looking dead. Lux was angry, now she left a hint to her chasers, but she hadn't time to hide the man. So she turned around and started to walk again, the people around her not caring too much about the man in the ground.

She finally found a barn almost in the end of the town; a grown man was outside in the corrals brushing a black horse slowly, not paying attention to his surroundings. Lux quickly walked to him, her hands leaned on the wood fences.

"Excuse me, sir, how much to Demacia?" her voice echoed through the night, making the man to stop what was he doing and look at her with one eyebrow raised.

"You're late, girl," he answered. "No one will be willing to go to any place now in the night, a lot less to Demacia, which is far away. Come back tomorrow".

Lux's hand stretched hardly in the wood, her magic involuntary altering.

"I don't have time," she almost hissed. "I need to get there right now."

The man chuckled and shrugged.

"That's not my business, girl."

Lux sighed and took out something from her pocket, drawing the attention of the man, who went wary for a moment.

"Maybe you had a change of heart after looking at my payment," she taunted, a gold coin shining in her hand.

The man almost dropped the brush and gulped loudly. He quickly walked at her and bowed foolishly, to Lux's amusement and irritation.

"M-my apologies. We shall go now if you wish," he offered hopefully, watching in amazement the gold in her hand. "I just need to set up everything; I'll be done in five minutes.

"Please make it two minutes," she said sternly, saving the money in her pocket. The man quickly nodded and stood straight. "I'll be waiting here, go".

He quickly went to his horse and grabbed its collar, guiding him inside. Lux turned around and walked to the beginning of the barn, taping her feet on the ground impatiently. Not more than a minute, the barn gates opened, two horses moving a small carriage. The man was sat down in the front, making a gesture with his hand, telling her to get in.

Lux quickly rushed to the carriage, passing by the same black horse and climbing the stair that was as support. She opened the door, went it and closed it behind her. She leaned to the little panel that allowed both of them to communicate and slipped it to the left.

"We need to be as discreet as possible, understood?" she demanded, still nervous.

"Understood." He abided without complaints.

She bumped in the brown seat and sighed. Everything started to move; she felt slowly how her jitters went by as she moved away of the town. The sight of the forest completely relaxed her, as it know how she was feeling. Watching the stars through the windows, she felt her body fall asleep after a few minutes.

….

The sun was slowly rising up in the sky, a new day arriving. Lux suddenly woke up, feeling how her cheek was being crushed in the carriage by the force of her body, making her feel a little pain. She slowly straightened, noticing how she was still moving in the forest. It was different from the last one; she recognized it. Demacia was close. She also could see glimpses of the man who was driving the horses.

However, what woke her up wasn't all of that; it was the sharp pain she was feeling currently in her head. It wasn't physically, but in some way mentally, as if someone tried to interrupt in her mind and….

"Oh…" she murmured and almost slapped herself.

She 'opened up' her mind and an instant later, the voice of Noz shoe in her head loudly.

 **"Lux, damn, you finally pick up!"** he accused, very angry.

" _Sorry… I just woke up… I'm almost in Demacia. I managed to steal it, Noz!"_

 **"I would congratulate you if I didn't have bad news, girl."**

Lux frowned, watching all around her to find anything abnormal. She failed, but she didn't know if she was supposed to feel glad or not.

" _Please don't be what I think"_ , she pleaded.

 **"Well, it isn't, but almost. After you little steal, the whole League itself went upside down; every summoner was granted the job to find the thief, a generous reward for the one who did it. And when I say everyone, is EVERYONE".**

Lux hugged herself and bit her lip.

" _Crap._ "

 **"Oh, you better crap. And after the big fail finding you, the League summoned every champion perforce. The suspects were quickly thrown at one of them; the dining hall looked like a mental hospital; IT WAS INSANE! Everyone was angry!"**

" _Holy God, they went that far?!_ "

 **"And the worst thing IS…"** he stopped a moment on purpose, giving her the need to strangulate him. **"You were one of the few who didn't show up. They suspect of you now."**

 _"I… uh… shit."_ She cursed, feeling bad just thinking the word.

She managed to steal those books, almost being caught, and now everything won't be worth it. Life had crazy twists.

 **"They will send a group of summoners to your home at midday. Think a good excuse."**

 _"But I'm not even in the city yet!"_ she screamed to the voice of her head, peeking through the window. She can barely see glimpses of Demacia, far, far away. _"I can't use my magic, they'll know it that I'm not in Demacia thanks to the remains!"_

 **"You're smart, Lux, you'll get by in some way. You should be thankful that to trace one champions takes one day"** He encouraged, but not making her feel better. **"I gotta go, they would find me. Good luck!"**

The connection ended abruptly, denying her the chance of answer. She slapped herself a couple of time in her face, fully waking her up. She leaned on the panel and opened it, finding the back of the coachman.

"Um, excuse me! Sir!" she screamed, making him to boggle. "It is possible to us to move faster?"

"I'm afraid not, lady," he answered, making her pout. "The horses are pretty tired; they won't stand to run anymore.

Lux ash-ed, and nodded to the man, leaning back to her seat. There wasn't any way she would manage to get there in time. And worst, she still didn't have any excuse.

Maybe to play sick? That would be probably the worst choice, being such a bad thing to excuse her of not attending. It would need to be a really bad sickness, a one that won't let her to even stand up. If it is that about, then she had a way to achieve that. A way she personally didn't like to do. But she still had to get to her home. If she only had another magic that wasn't light… One of which no one had knowledge about it.

Then, the image of the forest crushed in her mind. She now felt stupid.

She punched two times in the carriage's wall, making it to suddenly stop, the horses neighing. Two knocks from the panel made her to open it, the girl getting the sight of the confused face of the man.

"You may stop now, I'll go to Demacia by myself," she said, surprising the man. "Here ," and she thrown at him the gold coin, the coachman catching barely. "Thank you for the ride."

Lux opened the door and jumped out of the carriage. Without any word, she started to run straight to the forest.

"Huh… Strange girl…"He said, watching his cold coin. "But a rich one."

Lux tried to get herself lost before stopping to try to catch her breath. Exhaling loudly, she proceeded to stretch her whole body before summoning her staff and backpack, catching both in her hands. She unzipped the bag and dropped in the floor. Then, she looked around for a stick sharp enough to draw in the grass, finding it quickly. Picking it up, she came back to her backpack and sat down, starting to draw sealing runes around her. One minute later, she felt sure enough to focus in her light magic again to retrieve the books back to the world, saving it immediately into her backpack. She stood up again and quickly erased the runes. It would be nonsense to try to use runes to get her to Demacia using magic and being unnoticed. It would take the time she hadn't.

So, instead she focused in the wild magic of the forest, trying to channel it through her staff. She remembered all the principles of Nature Magic, her mind thinking at the speed of the light. A few moments later, she twirled her hand, in a desperate attempt to copy a portal spell of her light magic. She knew that what was she doing was dangerous; you're in thin ice if you experiment with magic; but she was in distress now.

She closed her eyes and went completely still for one minute, hopelessly asking the forest for help. She was close to give up when she felt an hesitant contact with something new, savage, raw, something she never felt before. Because she always had some of light magic while using nature magic, she never felt it so pure before.

Lux smiled in extreme gratitude, and welcomed with open arms the new magic, making it to move easier through her body, and consecutively, her staff. She started to copy the spell she was looking for, reciting it slowly in her mind. After thinking the words, nothing felt wrong; actually she had that feeling of a good spell done.

She opened up her eyes, expecting to see a portal of green magic in front of her, but instead was nothing. She just had the same sight of the forest. Lowering her staff with a disappointed face, she noticed something below her. The ground below her was vibrating, making his feet to feel like having a cramp, but in a strange way, a nice one.

She yelped when suddenly giant leafs started to grown up below her feet, making its way around her. She saw in amazement how they grew and grew, till they were the same height of her. Then, the leafs started to move around her in a circular way, making a green small dome around her body. She rested her hands in it, still managing to see the rays of sun passing through it. The dome started to tremble, making her to boggle. She saw how the sunlight gradually stopped being visible, her surrounding being now pitch dark. The crunch now felt went very loudly now, her ears hearing dirt moving and rock smashing. She tried to stand up, but her feet felt crazy, making her feel tickles. She involuntary laughed, liking the odd situation.

She didn't know exactly how much time went by, but the crunch slowly started to stop, allowing her to see the sunlight again. The leafs around her unwrapped itself. She tried to peek in the middle of the process, and what she saw made her to drop to her knees.

She could saw the giant gates of one of the entries of Demacia, a hundred meters away.

The mage recomposed her and went out of the leaves, watching with still amazement how it joined the earth again. She putted her hood up again, the strange success making it to fall down to her shoulders. Now it was time to run; her legs obeyed.

She hid in the crowd of people who were entering and exiting the city, trying to pass unnoticed by the guards who were keeping an eye on the people, doing it with any problem. The streets of Demacia never felt so great before, her steps making her felt better one by one.

She ran and ran, passing by the park, the theatre and a lot of places before sight her house in the distance. She stopped before she would be sighted by the guards, and hided a couple of houses behind. Now, she would need the sickness in her body.

This is the part she would hate, even more than lie to everyone. Taking out his staff from her cape, which she never un-summoned because she would have to write runes again, she sighed before focusing in magic. This time wasn't light or nature, it was… considerably darker.

Her lighten demeanor faded, giving way to her true herself. It was an odd way to call herself now, but it was what the dark magic do to her. She now felt not all the light around her, but the darkness, every shadow in emitting energy to her, her own shadow being the strongest one. She now also felt like to throw up; that's why she hated dark magic. It disgusted her greatly, but it gave her what she needed.

Now, she would have to make her way to her house while channeling dark magic. God, that was horrible.

…..

"Madam Augatha!"

Augatha Crownguard stopped reading the book in the enormous living room of the house. Her hands taking out the glasses she was wearing before answer to the guard who burst in the room with an irritated voice.

"Yes?"

"Lady Lux appeared into the house gates and passed out! She is in a very deep state of sickness!"

"What?!" she screamed with a high-pitched voice, standing up quickly. "She is here?! You said she is sick?! Why one of you is helping her to get in the house?! Idiot! Shame on you!

The man widened his eyes and quickly bowed to her.

"My apologies! I'm going to help out now!" he said before running out of the room.

Augatha threw the book the floor in impotence, sighing and carving her temple.

" _What are you doing, Lux?"_ she thought, her head hurting.

The woman shook her head and quickly exited the room, too, catching her long dress in order to avoid stumbling on it. She went down through the stairs and approached to the main door of the house, meeting a group of guards who were carrying Lux's unconscious body.

"Put her in her dormitory, now!" she ordered, receiving a loud "Yes!" from everyone.

They went up the stairs and everyone did their best effort to make the process the most delicately as possible. Augatha felt hysteria in her body at looking how bad Lux was. What in the world happened on her?

Her mother was the first one who tried to open her daughter's room, but falling. It was closed.

"This girl!" she hissed before catching Lux's hand and waving it in front of the keyhole, making it to sound.

She now opened the door and walked to her bed, the guards following her behind. She prepared the bed for her daughter, before order the men to lay her down CAREFULLY. She dispatched the guards after that, shooing them away instantly from the room. She turned around to Lux and covered her with the white blankets, taking her time to do it. She stood there for a moment, watching the sore face of Lux twitching. She… she needs to call a doctor, now. Where's Vicent when she needed him?

Murmuring low, she walked to the door and closed it behind her, making her way to the stairs again. After arriving downstairs, she was supposed to go to the kitchen to find someone to call a doctor when another man interrupted her.

"Madam Augatha, we have visits!" he informed her nervously, afraid of the look in the face of her patroness. "They said they were from the League of Legends. They're requesting to meet with Lady Lux. What should I tell them?"

Augatha raised an eyebrow, but it wasn't time to doubt.

"Allow them the entry," she said with furrowed lips. "I'll deal with them."

"Understood!" he said before going outside.

Augatha walked to the vestibule and sat down, tapping her feet impatiently in the floor, thinking what those people would want. After a few seconds, she saw how a pair of guards escorted three people into the room, all of them wearing purple robes. Two of them were men, one with long black hair and green eyes, and the other with brown hair and eyes. The other one was a woman with strange white hair and blue eyes.

Augatha stood up and didn't bother to smile.

"Summoners, it's a great pleasure to meet you. But I'm afraid this is not a good time; my daughter is not available right now. You shall come later," she said contemptuously, her arms crossed.

The one who answered was the man with brown hair, with a hidden grimace in his face.

"We are sorry for burst in your home like this, Lady Augatha," she narrowed her eyes when she was called Lady. "But we have a really important affair to discuss with Luxanna. It had to be done as soon as possible".

"My daughter caught some sickness," she answered harshly, the three of them exchanging glances each other after hearing what she said. "I was about to call a doctor."

"If you allow me, Augatha," the other woman talked, drawing the attention of everyone there. "I specialize in healing magic. I could tell you what's wrong with her if you are fine with it."

Augatha didn't answer immediately, thinking about what to do. However, the answer was clear in her mind. She just felt something off about it. She didn't like those people.

"Fine," she agreed, walking to them. "You may follow me to my daughter's room".

They nodded and followed her silently, the ambient tense. They made quickly the way to which Lux was; Augatha opening the room. The three summoners watched intently at the pale body of Lux lying down in the bed, which actually looked very sick. Everyone walked to the front of Lux's bed, only the woman approaching to the girl's side.

After a few seconds, she extended her hand above Lux's body, a white light coming out of it. She moved it in some times, murmuring some things to herself and finishing a minute later.

"She's got magic disease of grade two," she said her diagnosis, surprising everyone in the room. "I can't find the cause of it; her body just tired itself in some way. It's actually unbelievable, but… it seems that there's no apparent reason".

"Lux has magic disease? That's impossible!" Augatha answered, still surprised.

"I'm as surprised as you, Augatha," she said, walking to them again.

The three summoners had a silent conversation with their eyes, before nodding each other.

"May you excuse us for a moment, Lady Augatha?" the man with brown hair said politely.

Augatha nodded and moved away to let them exit the room. Closing it, the man faced the woman with wary eyes.

"Are you serious, Beverly?" he asked, not believing what she said. "That girl just got magic disease after her match and before the stealing? Isn't that suspicious?"

"Is what I diagnosed, Kristoff," was her simply answer, defending her position. "You know one couldn't just force magic disease; it would extremely dangerous. That girl was unlucky, and she isn't the thief. This is stupid!"

Kristoff sighed tiredly, brushing her hair, not looking at her.

"I guess we still have to keep looking for that bastard," he said darkly.

She nodded, and then all of them looked watched again the door.

"But we still have to say goodbye," the man with long hair said.

"Great," Kristoff sayed sarcastly.

…..

 **Well, I guess that will set off some things of your head. Anyway, the next chapter Lux will be escaping. I would appreciate reviews, thanks!**


	3. 29 days

I updated this, but the site didn't sent me any notification of the new chapter (it always does, or when I publish a new story). So I'm afraid that the ones who are following won't getting, too.

To Talon, the guest who reviewed and the only person who saw this chapter: thank you, dude. I really appreciate what you think about the story.

 **...**

 **Finally someone figured out the sneak peak to Evanescence in first chapter, lol. This chapter will be feature 30 scenes.**

 **This took out more time than I thought. Sorry for the wait… I hope you like it; it's very special. I'm not going to deepen into the little stories here because that will make this chapter insanely long. So, if you maybe are minding about something what happened in those days, then you'll have either to ask me or find out by yourself.**

 **Enjoy! And please review.**

 **NOTE (05/10/17) I found someone who is willingly to help me with all gramathical stuff, so you shouldn't bee seeing issues in the next chapters. The first chapters will be edited as well; I'll tell you when it's finished!**

* * *

 **3\. 29 Days.**

 **Day one**

Lux felt suddenly awake, her body still exhausted and hurt thanks to what she had done in order to get sick. Very comfortable, however, she opened slowly her eyes, noticing that she was in her room. None was there, the silent of the place making her feel better, to be alone. That means she made it.

She tried to focus in her magic without trying to effort too much, forcing her mind to not think about how she was wearing new clothes and how that meant that someone touched her while she was asleep. The weak state of her magic not surprised her. It was extremely stupid of her to force her body to use dark magic, she knew the consequences. Since she did it for first time when she was fourteen, she was roundly prohibited to do it by her former teachers. Her light magic reacted to it in a way that hurt her mentally and physically, the two natures of the different kind of magic being very incompatible. Because combining two of the most incompatible things in the universe, it was immediately considered stupid to even try. And it wasn't like anyone else tried, she being the only light mage in centuries as far she knew.

So she rested her head in the high pillows, relaxing. Both of her books popped in her mind, making her to smile. She lasted one full minute summoning her bag, her magic refusing to work, being in such a weak state. After taking both of them out of the bag, Lux's eyed darted across them, her curiosity winning the inner battle she was having right now. She grabbed _'Your magic'_ and saved it in her bag again, promising to read it later. She grabbed the other one with careful hands, noticing now how old it looked. She dusted the book slightly, afraid of broking it.

Her fingers opened it up, the first page feeling fragile in her hands. A second later her eyes widened in surprise. Itwasn't a book properly said, it was a notebook.

 **January, end of the Delphian War**

 _Hello, whoever you are. If you are reading this, then you managed to steal my notebook from whoever was hiding it, congratulations. I'm going straight to the point._

 _What I wrote here is my experience of the different kind of elemental magic: how to lean them, control it and dominate it. First, I must warn you that this is not for everyone. If you aren't enough skilled in magic, then please burn this or give it to someone who it is. Kidding, don't ever think of burning it!_

 _You feel like hearing a story? Perfect. This book will be probably very old while you read this, so we're heading towards long, long time ago…_

 _The gods are angry. To them, the magic is something valued and pure, something that is exclusive of... well, gods. So when I started to teach the foreign people about it, they almost killed me, but they failed. How…? Because my magic was superior to theirs, in terms of power and amplitude. So, in revenge, they started the Delphian War, a desperately attempt to eradicate all the humans of corrupting magic. One more time, they failed. The humans were way too stronger for them. It sounds illogic, but they won and kicked out the Gods of Runaterra. The humans were way too smart._

 _But… they were right. The humans corrupted magic; almost none of them were honest. So, why I taught them it? I was young and naïve, believing that if I taught them the greatness of the magic, they'll use it for good. Sadly, I was wrong. I'm ashamed._

 _You must know that I attached this note after finishing my notebook. I'm almost dead; I'll be in exactly one minute. I'm writing with some help of my wind magic, I can barely feel my fingers now… Neat trick, huh?_

 _This was made to someone in specific. I lied to you, HA! If you weren't the chosen one, the book would simply kill you, the magic I enchanted in it would crush your heart, or smash your brain, or explode some random organ. This was made to someone good and powerful enough to my standards, so I assume you're a light mage. Light mages are rare even in this time, but all of them are the best people you could ever imagine. You are blessed by the heavens, mage, the gift of manipulate the light at will is non-achievable if you just have that… thing. But again, I'm going to be more specific. Because a normal light mage would we good and powerful enough to use this, that only would mean that my mistake is going to be repeated again. You are… a special light mage, with the ability to not only use light magic… but dark as well, right? That would grant you the perfect balance to use any kind of magic you want._

 _I already know that you're not as innocent as you look to the other people, right? I assume that you are in the good side, but you also made bad things, correct? I want to you to learn everything you can to dominate all the elements, dark included, to do well and help other people. If you accept the mission, then I will allow you to read the notebook. If you not, I kill you._

 _Oh great, The Reaper is coming for me, I can feel it. I must say goodbye, light mage. You can do it fine. … I hope._

Lux's smile was completely froze, her hands still in the air, holding the book. She stared at it for a couple of minutes, her mind suddenly off. She just couldn't think, so she blinked as response. She came here looking for a helpful book to learn more about elemental magic, and now she would made a lifetime contract with a crazy man, who was already dead.

The Delphian war…? She barely knew about it. The books she read only speak about how the humans fought the gods to defend Runaterra, explaining her how the inhabitants of Samalga Islands were the first one to fight those using Ethwahls. Then, the books only gave her confusing hints about what happened next, but nothing more.

She knew that humanity learned magic from gods or some relatively close, it was obvious. The world already has magic in it, but none knew how to use it. Some had to teach them; it was this guy? It's possible to him to be a god?

She then went down her gaze to the end of the page of the book, five squares in patters she identified to put fingers in it. She was a looking for a reason to live, and the opportunity presented itself, what else she would have to do, anyways? She didn't hesitate when her hand slowly raised and touched the sheet. The squares shined for a moment and disappeared after. A single message appeared.

 **I knew you would make the right choice.**

 **I also was kidding in that killing thing.**

She smiled nervously, but happy with the decision she made. She almost reached for the next page when the door of her room suddenly opened. She almost dropped the book to the ground, but Lux managed to hide it immediately below her covers. She made contact visual with Aya, her predisposed maid, which face lightened up at the sight of Lux awoke.

"Miss Lux, you are awake!" she said happily, and before she could say anything, the maid stormed out the room, screaming "Miss Augatha, Miss Augatha!"

Lux laughed a little but she made sure to summon her bag again and save the book carefully. Seconds later, a par of steps quickly headed towards her door, opening it up one more time. She was greeted by the face of her mother, who was watching her approvingly.

"Good, you are awake sooner than I expected," was her strange way to salute her. Lux accepted it anyways with a tiny smile. She was worried at least, right? Strange. "I ordered Aya to call the doctor."

Lux frowned slightly, worried about the doctor discovering her. But she hided it expertly; she was confident in her skills. Augatha walked towards her bed and sat down in the left side, watching nothing in particular but at the same time, her.

"I'm not going to ask what happened," she said, her face blank. Lux didn't say anything. "I think I know what… happened; you already know that you have to be careful with that. Some people from the League came here and asked for you. They diagnosed you magic disease. We both know that there's only two ways to that happen to you, we do?"

Lux smiled awkwardly, but nodded as answer.

"Good," Augatha smiled. "Don't let it to control you, understood?"

Lux nodded with her head slowly, thinking her next question. She was glad that her mother thought that the dark mas the one who took control of her.

"So… some people from the Institute came here…" she started, watching how her mother narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What did they want? They're here now?"

"They left as quickly they diagnosed you, very inappropriate from them," she said scornfully, shaking her head slightly. "Those three people wanted to talk with you, but I told them that you weren't available. They insisted, but happened what I already told you."

"I see…" she rambled not wanting to keep the topic of conversation.

They both we're in silence, ordering everything in their heads. Augatha stood up, snapping out Lux from her thoughts.

"The doctor will be here in any moment," she informed her, unconsciously making her daughter wary again. "So I better tell you before he came in. Garen arrived four hours ago."

Lux's eyes widened and her mouth almost went completely open, but she managed to refuse it, not wanting a reprimand from her mother. Her brother was already in Demacia?! How much time went by since she passed out?

"Garen is here?" she said with a happy voice, smiling inevitably at the thought of seeing him again. "I want to see him!" she cried, trying to roll out of the bed, but her mother quickly pushed her back again into the bed.

"You're not leaving this bed, young girl, understand?" she said sternly, Lux watching her with a very surprised face. "The doctor said you should have at least one week of rest." She wraps her poorly, but she warps her. Then, she turned around and walk to the door, opening it. "Garen will be visiting you tomorrow. He's busy with… some stuff with The King". And she steps a little to the other side, throwing a warning glance at Lux before speaking. "You heard me? Rest and nothing else. Oh, and just for you to know: the ball was proposed to the next Sunday, you would never attend it in that state" she said before closing the door.

Lux blinked a couple of times. What just happened?

* * *

 **Day two**

Lux twisted around her body uncomfortably, a grimace in her face and a book in her hands. A day went by before her little show faking sickness and she were now extremely tired of resting. And because she wanted so badly to read more about the elements, her mind kicked in and ordered her to prioritize the _other_ one. Thankfully, _'Your magic'_ was as interesting as the other one, but it looked more like a book. She read some things that she already knew, and some things that exploded in her mind and made her to stare at the book foolishly and with awe.

For example, she learned that the magic is, in some way, alive. It wasn't like to say that it has patterns and ways to behave, but indeed, it was alive. This represented differently on every type of magic. Light magic could be called as the happiest of all, the one who brings hope to every place and every one. The mage felt better, not only because she can't remember a single time when she was out of hope, but because that would help her with learning more elemental magic. Because now she knew that every type of magic represented some emotion, she was now a step closer of dominate it. She has to know which emotion represented every single element she wanted to learn.

If she would have to wonder with fire… she would say _angriness_.

Her hand reached for the next page, only to find it empty, making her to sigh exasperatedly. Sometimes, the book decides that she read enough and simply went blank, forcing her to come back later. She closed it reluctantly and accommodated it in her backpack. She then made it disappear and leaned down in the bed, staring at the roof boring.

She was expecting Garen to come over, but looks like he wasn't coming anytime soon. So she decided to close her eyes and sleep.

* * *

 **Day three**

Louds knocks in her door awakened her abruptly, the sun even not showing through her window. She incorporated in the bed and watched sleepily the door. Who could be this early?

"Come in," she almost stammered, closing her eyes and carving it, the darkness around her fading slightly thanks to the aura around her.

The wood opened loudly, making her to want to scream to whomever there to be more silent, when the sight of Garen made her to jerk up, almost making her to fall out of the bed.

"Big brother!" she screamed and immediately after she covered her mouth with both hands, her mind adverting her that it was too early to be screaming.

"Hey, sunshine," he whispered instead, opening silently the door, barely passing by thanks to his giant and muscular body.

Lux's hands dropped, the girl focusing now in how funny seemed her brother trying to tiptoe towards her, failing miserably because his armor was doing the job being noisy instead. Somehow, he managed to get to her side, sitting down beside her, unbalancing the mass of the bed to her side, making her to giggle a little.

"I'm sorry for not coming earlier," he apologized. "But I had to attend some business with The King, to talk about Demacia safeness and stuff. It was very important."

Her smile faded a little after hearing those words left his mouth, but she kept smiling.

"I… have heard the news," he tried to say casually, tried. Now Lux's happy smile was nowhere to be seen. Instead there was a sad one, contrasting horribly her demeanor. "I'm sorry, Lux… Jarvan, he's pretty upset, too," he tried to comfort her.

Lux shook her head, furrowing her lips in disgust.

"It doesn't matter if we both are upset about it," she said bitterly, her hands squeezing the covers. "In the end, we are forced to do it, without our permission. And I don't even know _why_ we are marrying. But, well… I guess is obvious…"

Garen watched her painfully, out of words. He leaned closer and hugged her slowly. After a few seconds, she hugged back.

"I know it's hard, but…"

"Is the best for everyone, I know," she interrupted him sternly, but keeping her face as before, forcing the tears back to her eyes.

He broke the hug but held her hands delicately. They stared each other for a few seconds.

"He will be visiting you after you recover. He told me that he wish to talk some things with you."

"The least he can do is to visit his future bride," she answered sarcastically, breaking the hold.

Then he leaned on her and kissed her forehead lovingly.

"He's not that bad, you know. Everything will be alright."

"You already told me that before," she contradicted. "And noting went better."

* * *

 **Day four**

"The world has magic everywhere," she recited gradually to herself, extracting it from the book, alone in the room. "It flows like rivers through special points in the map. Every river is different from each other, each one of them carrying different kind of magic and quantity. The closer you are to them, the more magic you could feel and use."

She smiled, happy of learning something new. Strange as it sounds, she never learned something as that in the magic academy. There, she was focused mostly to perfect her light magic. Magic History was poor; they couldn't tell you anything important like she just read.

"But there's a special place when almost all the rivers came from: Ionia. Deep into the island's forest, alongside its seashores, dozens of rivers starts there and travels around the entire world. In that place, you could find any type of magic, even ones who weren't discovered yet."

She closed her eyes, a plan making itself in her head. Now she has a place to go, at least. Ionia was the best place she could ever think of living. No one will ever bother her there. And the best part of it: she would practice her magic as much she wants. At least that was good news.

She sighed. She had twenty five days left.

* * *

 **Day five**

"I know you don't like it, Miss Lux, but you have to take the medicine to get better."

Lux made a sound of nausea and her body shook off, forcing her mouth open and to swallow the green liquid the spoon has into her body. Then, she proceeded to lie down in her bed dramatically, with Aya looking at her disapprovingly with her hands in her hips.

"This is not how a lady should behave, Miss Lux!" she reprimanded her.

"But it smells!" the other cried painfully, holding her nose. "I don't like gross smells! And it tastes horrible!"

Aya tapped her foot in the floor as she filled the spoon again with medicine from the container.

"Just one more?" she pleaded, balancing the spoon in an attempt of making it edible.

Lux sighed horribly, but nodded. She took the piece of metal and moved it slowly to her mouth, swallowing its contents again. Aya hummed happily and took away the jar, to the content of the mage. Then the blonde lied down in her bed and twisted around the covers, not feeling like to talk anymore.

"The doctor said that his is good for you sickness. It's powerful enough to battle your strange state," the maid remembered her, such as a mother does with its kids. "I'll come by again at night. Just two more days and it'll be over."

Lux's body produced a strange sound that it seemed like an "Hmm", making the maid to roll her eyes before walking to the door and going out. She tried to relax her body and to stay calm, a few seconds passing by, but suddenly, the environment around changed. Her body went still and tense for a moment, but the girl chilled out at recognizing the sensation.

"I thought you weren't the type who acts immaturely," a mocking voice echoed through her ears.

Lux turned her body and caught a glimpse of black hair in the corner of the room, right into the fancy couch.

"Shut up, it's gross, you know," she said, turning her body back again facing the pillow.

"Aren't you going to salute me, Lux?" he said with a fake hurt voice, standing up and walking towards her desk, which was close to her bed.

"Sorry, Noz, I'm not in the mood." Lux rambled, her voice blurred by the white cloth of her comfort. "What are you doing here? Isn't dangerous?"

"Don't worry, I have a day off. I also made sure that nobody was following me and stuff." The main said, turning around the chair to face her and sitting down, legs crossed. "You know why I'm here. How are you feeling?"

"Better…" she threw the pillow out of her face, this time incorporating and facing his black eyes. "The medicine is doing its job."

She waited for him to say something, but frowned at the sight of him prying all around the desk, touching and moving everything. When he was satisfied enough, he spoke.

"And what are you going to do now, Lux?" he asked, the tiniest hint of worry and curiosity being recognized by Lux's senses. "You decided where are you going?"

"Ionia," she simply said, making him to raise one eyebrow in interest.

"That's actually… a good spot to hide, yes… Ionia being such a spiritual place… And it's perfect to you." He finished, nodding to himself. "But there's a problem, right?"

Lux furrowed her lips and still didn't want to think about her poor progress in hiding herself. The book she stole wasn't helping her for a strange reason.

"Hiding me is still… a work in progress." She confessed, ashamed. She didn't want to Noz's help to get wasted.

"Well, I'll let you that kind of stuff; I barely know about how to do something like that, maybe temporally but not permanently or long enough to reach that far away."

"I'm still thinking a good distraction, good enough to give me the time I need to get away as possible. Probably a good dazzle with my light will work, and also some illusions."

"If is what a distraction you need, then I can help."

Upon hearing those words, she instantly started to deny over and over with her head.

"No way! You already helped me out enough with the books; I'll do it by my own!"

"I have to tell you again?" she taunted her with two incredulous eyes. "I…"

"You DO what you want, I know," she tried to keep her voice low, but failed a little. "I don't want to get you in trouble! I need to repeat that again?"

"No, thanks," he said mockingly. "…But I'm helping you out, ok?"

In an attack of pure rage, Lux grabbed one random pillow and threw it at him, attempting to hit is face. Her rage went bigger just looking how his hand twirled and the pillow stopped in the middle of the air. The laugh that followed was devilish.

* * *

 **Day six**

Her hands drew expertly across the map, signalizing routes and possible escapes from any trouble. She grabbed the red pencil and made a full circle around the island of Ionia, which allowed her to made a line that connected that circle with the one who was surrounding Noxus in the map. She dropped the pencil in the table of her library and leaned on the table, her head into her hand.

She has a route now. The plan was simply: after escaping from Demacia, she would need to get to Noxus and take a boat directly to Ionia. The first plan was to teleport to the Institute of War and from there, run away to Noxus, making sure to be unnoticed, but that plan was discarded when Noz told her that now the League controls every entry and exit now, making it impossible. If she was supposed to be at the marrying, then she would be questioned. She would have to make it through all the way. Also, using a teleport spell was also impossible; the time of preparation for such a great distance away would take a lot of time.

Her eyes closed for a moment…

The watch Noz gave her sounded loudly, still in her hand. Lux gasped in surprise and saw the hour. Aya would be in her room in any moment! She grabbed everything with her and started to run to her room, afraid of using her magic again.

* * *

 **Day seven**

"Careful, careful," the doctor said to her as he grabbed delicately Lux's arm to help her to stand up.

Feeling extremely guilt, Lux faked tiredness and slowly stood up from her bed, leaning on his arm to make it more credible.

"It looks like you're getting better," the old man commented and nodding to her mother who was a couple of meters away from them, beside of her door. "Don't make any effort and you'll be fine, understood? I'll come to check up you in three weeks. You may go"

Lux smiled, but inside was rolling her eyes. Her body was completely fine; her light magic naturally destroyed long time ago any rest of the dark magic she used. But she had enough of suspicions on her, so she had to play a bit more time. Augatha strode to her left side and grabbed her arm to guide her to the exit.

"Jarvan is waiting for you downstairs; we don't have to keep him waiting," the woman informed her, making her daughter to spin her head on her neck and glance at her with terrified eyes.

"J-Jarvan?! He's here?" she accused, resisting the urge to jump on her bed again forever. "I wasn't informed!"

"Of course you not, honey," she responded, opening the door and making both of them to go out. "Almost no one knows he is here. He insisted to visit you; and you don't want to embarrass our family, right?" she warned dangerously.

Lux gritted her teeth but denied with her head. They went silent as they made the way to the stairs, with Lux breaking her head to thinking all the possibilities of the conversation. She would assume that he already knew about the marriage, so she has to be angry with him? What she would say to him? He was the Prince of Demacia! But now, he's supposed to be her future husband, so maybe she…

" _Ugh, no,"_ she smashed the idea mentally. She would be escaping, so thinking about him as a husband is simply stupid.

She should have figure out when the maids suddenly disappeared and no one was checking on her, hours ago. Everyone was downstairs receiving him, but in a silent way. Or maybe she was just too self-absorbed in her reading.

When she saw him, the girl didn't know what to think about it. Jarvan was sat down in the expensive couch of the living room, which was alongside the vestibule. Before he could even notice her, her eyes darted across his entire silhouette, acknowledging that he was a gorgeous man, now wearing some casual clothes. Tall, tanned skin and a strong demeanor, was things she liked in a man. But Demacia was embedded deeply in his mind, just like Garen. He may be a good man, but that wasn't any worth to her.

His blues eyes finally connected with hers, making his body to stand up and dismiss the bodyguards that were in the other side of the room, which Lux never noticed thanks to her little analysis. Her mother's hand leaved her arm and she left the room, too, without saying any word.

Lux cringed, diverting her gaze away from Jarvan's piercing one. So his eyes went down peeking at her classy outfit Aya helped her out to choose hours ago. He hiked at her and stopped in front of her, his eyes twinkling.

"I… please sit," he tried to start, but interrupted himself.

Lux nodded and they both walked to the seats, with her sitting down in the opposite coach from him. The girl gathered enough brave to slap her mentally and forcing her to look at him.

"I'm sorry, Lux."

She widened her eyes in surprise.

"Why are you saying that?" she said, puzzled.

"Because I know that this is not what you want," he answered with his voice considerably lower.

"Then I can say that this is not what you want, too," she pointed out, her mind thinking about Shyvana. If someone asked her about which woman will be for Jarvan, then she probably would answer that dragon-girl.

"I… No… Well," he seemed out of words. Lux wanted to cry. "It's hard to me, too. My father always said to me that I'll get married one day, that day was destined. I never thought he was referring this."

"Your Highness…" she tried to talk, but he stopped her with a gesture with his hand.

"That's not necessary; not anymore," he said in somewhat painful way, but well hidden. "You may call me now Jarvan."

She frowned, but didn't say anything nonetheless.

"Jarvan…" she said, her mouth feeling dirty. "I… don't really want to do this, but I have no choice. And I'm pretty sure that you don't like me in that way; you probably like someone else. What I'm really trying to say is… how can you accept this? Your opinion didn't matter to The King…?"

Jarvan seemed to be taken aback by the sudden choice of words from her. His answer was a sad smile.

"Like you, Lux, I never had any choice in my life. I'm The King's son; I already have my future set on stone the day I was born." Lux didn't know if she should feel better or not. At least she wasn't the only puppet there.

"It's all for the name of Demacia." She said, out of herself.

Well, from now on, everything will be going for her. She shouldn't feel sad.

* * *

 **Day eight**

She saw herself in the mirror, the body showing off an incredible beautiful white bride dress. It surrounded all her body but his arms and her head. It was spongy, and shined magnificently with her blue eyes and hair. The veil covering her head almost made her to feel like in jail, though.

Augatha danced around her, the maids a couple of meters away of them being completely silent. After a little analysis, the woman walked to her jeweler of her room, toking out a pair of earrings, which found they place in Lux's ear. They shined amazingly. Her mother snapped at one of the maids, making her to rush quickly to take a bouquet of, of course, white roses. She handed to the mage, making her to hold.

"You look astonishing," was her review, nodding to herself. "My mother's dress suits perfectly on you. I used it in the wedding with your father, too. It's a family tradition, generation by generation."

Lux shook off her body a bit, admitting that she really looked amazing with that dress. She maybe will use it someday.

"Your grandmother always wanted to see you marrying with someone," Augatha continued talking, lost in her thoughts.

"I wanted that, too," she answered, snapping out her mother and making her to chuckle. "She told me that, how she wanted to see me in 'the best day of my life'."

She wasn't sure about this whole marriage thing, even if it is with her loved one. Bounding with someone _or something_ to her whole life was something that Lux didn't like, especially because the experience with Demacia.

"She was such a fool sometimes…" she mocked. Lux had the sensation that was to herself, not to her grandmother. "She was an old woman, after all…"

Lux frowned and stopped paying attention to Augatha. Instead she just continued on watching herself in the mirror.

* * *

 **Day nine**

The dining hall of the Institute of War was almost depleted, the only few champions were very far away from each other. She examined everything and went in, trying to be the most discrete possible into her way to pick a tray and fill it with food. Her eyes scanned across the room, stopping at one figure she wanted to see. Her steps were silent, but not unnoticed by the solitary Janna in one of the corners of the room. She felt bad about how the face of her friend lightened up at the sight of her.

"Lux!" the calm voice of her sounded somewhat a little louder this time calling her. "Where are you been? I was worried!"

"Sorry, Janna," the light mage smiled apologetically, walking towards her and taking the seat in front of her. "I had some troubles, but it's all done now."

Her friend frowned in worry, his hair floating around her expression, making it more real.

"You don't seem right, Lux," she said, don't believing her excuse. "Are you sure everything's fine?"

Lux showed her a tiny smile as she grabbed an apple and started to cut it in pieces.

"I don't want to worry you. Everything is alright," she responded carefree, eating the piece of apple and tasting it slowly. "Enough of me, let's talk about what are we doing tonight."

Janna's gaze perked up with interest at her sudden statement.

"Tonight? You never feel like to go out, Lux," she said. "And I've heard about that strange outfit you wore a week ago. What's going on? Tell me!"

"Aw, come on!" she pointed at her hurt heart, indignant. "Can't I be different by just a single day?"

"Well…" she seemed to think for a bit. "I guess so… Where are we going, then?" she asked, picking her bottle of water and drinking a bit.

Lux laughed down devilishly, her _loudly_ nature still being heard by, unfortunately, almost everyone in the room.

"Girls Night!" she screamed dramatically, crushing the apple in her hand.

"Uh…? Girls Night?" Janna questioned, her eyebrows furrowed. "What are you…?"

"It's gonna be AMAZING, really," she dreamed, moving her hands in the air to make the proposal more incredible. "We'll see romantic movies, we'll manicure each other, and we'll talk about BOYS," she tasted the last word, moving up and down her eyebrows.

Janna's cheeks blushed a little, the person on the mind of her friend being obvious to Lux.

"How's everything with Ekko, Janna?" she taunted with a smile in her lips, leaning slightly into the table to hear better.

Her face went scandalous, like she was saying a blasphemy.

"And how's everything with Ezreal?!" she tried to counter poorly, making Lux to smile even widen.

"Great. We had an amazing date a week ago. We would be taking one this week," she said.

That wasn't true; she may not be dating Ezreal again. She didn't want to start to like him in that way and then flee away at the end of the month, it would be painful. But Janna was her only true friend, besides Noz, and she was going to enjoy her while she can. There wasn't any way that she was leaving her before making sure she was happy.

"Well, if you are _so_ interested to know, nothing happened." She finally responded, diverting her face away from Lux.

"Then ask him a date," she expulsed the idea from her mind. Janna seemed to choke with the water she was drinking because she coughed a couple of times and her face went red. "What?"

"Are you serious? Me, asking Ekko to a date?" she repeated slowly, trying to make Lux to understand the craziness of her words.

"Oh, Janna, you already saw him, don't you?" she said, leaning her elbows in the table and using her hands as support for her chin. "He always acts so cool, but when he's around of you, his face always looks like a tomato. I think you should ask him or you may die while waiting. "

Janna opened her mouth to say something, but only air flooded out of her mouth. She went silent for a moment.

"I… you think?" she asked hesitantly; a girl asking a boy to go out? That sounded weird.

"Of course! And I'm going to help you!" she said with a face filled with strange happiness. "Just wait till tomorrow, hehehe…"

"Well… If you say so…"

The face of hope of her friend calmed down the bad feeling inside of her.

* * *

 **Day ten**

Her body smashed into the corner of the Institue's inner rout. Her face adhered at the arc of stone, hiding behind the exit and watching Janna waiting several meters away of her, floating gracefully in the air, but sat down in a bench. She tapped impatiently the foot on the path of stone, playing with the sunlight and admiring the beauty of the place.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, someone went in by one of the other entries. His black skin was immediately recognized by Lux's eyes. She repressed an excited shriek and focused on how Janna seemed to boggle, apparently lost in thoughts.

Ekko strode at her crush, unaware of the pair of eyes watching both of them. He stopped in front of her, his face already a little red. Lux's hand grabbed hard the stone; he was so cute!

"H-Hey," he saluted nervously; Lux was unable to stop her squeal of excitement. They both immediately looked at her position, Ekko curious and Janna with a scared face. They found the exit empty, so Ekko focused in Janna again. "May I sit down?"

"Please," she answered calmly, but still a little nervous and angry at Lux for almost messing up everything.

"I read your note," he started, making Janna to raise an eyebrow in questioning.

A note? She never wrote one; it may be Lux's doing. So she pretended to know what he was talking about.

"I see," was her simply answer.

Ekko leaned his elbows in his legs, his right foot moving up and down.

"What you wrote… You really mean it?" he suddenly questioned her, making the girl to turn her head around and to give him a surprise gaze.

"I…" What she was supposed to say? What in the world Lux wrote there? "…yes. It is true," she said forcefully, her words almost didn't going out of her lips.

He then gave her the brightest smile he could make, making her to smile foolishly and to make her heart warm. Lux, hidden with her magic, held her breath. Ekko sat closer and, in a movement that astonished both girls there, he leaned on Janna, delicately grabbed her face and kissed right into her lips.

Janna needed three seconds to acknowledge what was happening. When she was herself again, her senses only focused in how her lips felt, so warm and nice, his mouth making her to touch the heaven. Ekko stopped and leaned back, staring in panic at the frozen face of her.

"I-I, shit, I was out of myself, I..!" Janna covered his mouth with one of her fingers, smiling slightly.

"Shush, and do it again."

Before they started to make out, Lux quickly escaped from the scene, giving them the privacy they needed.

* * *

 **Day eleven**

Ezreal found her after her last match. He was waiting for her outside of the Red Team summoning room. At first, she was surprised. He came close to her and talked like they just talked yesterday, not sparing any time to rest his mouth. She couldn't resist accepting again when he asked to hang out. Her body felt dizzy with the thought about having a great time again. And, after the girls night with Janna (which no one knows about it), she was hopelessly out of affection.

Like the last time, Lux forgot everything and only thought about his smile and how it made her world a little brighter. They spend a lot of time walking and talking about everything. He was particularly rapt with his latest founded treasure. She heard with interest his theories about where it could came from and what it possibly would do.

At midday, they both used the League's portals and took her out to eat to a cool coffee in Piltover. The hours passed with Lux delighted of talking with someone. The food was quickly enjoyed and, after paying for everything, Ezreal gave her a tour of the city, despite her knowing it very well secretly.

At the end, Lux ended up the date kindly because she had to study. She hadn't the heart to shoo him away.

And she will be announcing her marriage in three days.

* * *

 **Day twelve**

 _When someone is conceived the magic around the one links to the body immediately. There are many facts that relate which type of magic one can hold and use. The first of all is the place of conception. This is very important because affects how much stronger the magic it could be, and also how easy to handle it would be. A child who is born in one corner almost out of magic won't have the same type of magic as the one who is born in the middle of one of the magic rivers._

 _The other fact is the heritage. Some has the natural good magic control; so it's possible to pass it to its children. But as some has it, not everyone is like them. Heritage is important because it has to do with the possibility of understand and dominate better a unique type of magic than another one. For example, if your mother or father is a strong magic-fire wielder, then it's possible to you to have the same capacity as is possible to not._

 _What define all of that is called Magic Imprint. If you manage know deeply your magic imprint, it's possible to hide it for any intruder. Also, in almost every case, the magic imprint is unchangeable because it's like our DNA, but way more complicated in a certain way. There are theories about it, but they are very dangerous to even try, the process making possible to you to lose permanently your magic and even a painful death. The first theory is, in a technical way, to 'corrupt' your magic, such like something as dark magic. This theory is extremely dangerous because no one have to power to fully control the darkness. Maybe dominate it in sort of level._

 _The other one is to fully link your magic with nature. The link that one makes when born it's weak enough to avoid any magic overload or magic poisoning; so again, this is also impossible to us because our human bodies can't stand the extremely powerful magic charge running through our blood even just ten seconds. However, that limitation is supposedly to be only to humans. We don't know if that also applies to semi-humans or intelligent animals; it's likely to not._

Lux held her breath and re-read again what she just saw. A smile darted across her lips and she couldn't resist the urge to laugh in extremely happiness and joy. She hugged the book into her chest. She actually had a chance to do it. She wasn't afraid to die; better than to stay in Demacia her whole life.

* * *

 **Day thirteen**

Lux breathed deeply, relaxing her body and letting it to sense everything around her, the forest surrounding her becoming suddenly ethereal, alive. Her staff in her hand went filled with magic, making the familiar sensation of the wildness running through every fiber of her. Her grab in her staff tightened, her face started to look a bit red and she occasionally let out some snorting. She tried really hard for a couple of minutes, but nothing happened.

She then fell down to her knees, her wand dropping in the ground beside of her, the glint of green magic fading away and with a dramatic-defeated grin in her face. She wanted to do by herself, but she just had no idea what she should do. She already knew that she was special in some way because she knew both light and nature magic, and because that weir book told her so.

She tanked again to the gods and the possibilities, because when she took _'The Magic of the Elements'_ , she felt blessed. Opening it up, she didn't feel surprised at the absence of the note she read days ago, being used to the strange behavior of the ancient books. So she decided to peak in the next sheets, facing the makeshift index. The only section that was there was casually Magic Nature, featuring ten pages. The index occupied two full sheets, but only the nature magic was being showed, for now, probably.

Her fingers quickly moved to the next page, her body getting comfortable in the ground before starting to read the title of the first page, named _'Magic Nature'_.

* * *

 **Day fourteen**

She descended the stairs with her wine heels, leaning her hand in the railing of the stairs of her house, the dark dress in her body shifting with her movements. Jarvan, dressed with an elegant tuxedo that highlighted his body and strong stance, was waiting for her at the end. She smiled coolly and strode at his side, liking how his face was staring at her,

"Interesting… choice of clothes," he pointed out, his eyes wandering around her figure.

"Well, don't you think it suits on me?" she asked, punching playfully his arm. He chuckled, forgetting her odd clothes.

"You look beautiful," he admitted, not noticing how she widened just a little her eyes. "Shall we go?" he asked, rising up his right arm.

Lux pushed her hair aside and nodded slowly, smiling and grabbing his arm.

"Let's be a good fake couple, shall we?" Lux joked, taking a smile out of him.

"I think we'll make it through," he assured.

Both started to walk arm by arm to the exit, leading towards the city's auditorium.

* * *

 **Day fifteen**

"Thank you for come, Miss Lux," said the young voice of Dante, the League's founder, echoing in his office. "It's very embarrassing to us to cite you here after sending a group to check on you personally in your home, but we still have to do the regulatory interrogation with everyone."

Lux smiled brightly, uncomfortably inside, cringing just slightly into her old chair. The gaze of the woman into the portrait in his desk made her feel tense.

"You don't have to apologize, sir, I know that it is for a very important cause," she said dismissively, avoiding eye contact with him.

It is rumored that Dante, being powerful enough to top the power of the Institute, is capable of mind reading. Mind reading was a lost magic, and the only known people of being able to do such an amazing thing is him. So Lux tried to focus instead in the room, deciding that she liked how the whole magic aura wrapped the room thanks to the odd objects and ancient decoration.

"I'm assuming that you already know what happened two weeks ago," she nodded. "Good; but first of all, I congratulate you for… your compromise. It surprised all of us."

Lux's smile didn't faded, although her muscles were suddenly tired, making her to move uncomfortably in the chair.

"Thank you."

"Now, I'm going to ask you a couple things about your past day, understood? Please answer with conclusive words to make the process easier."

"Understood."

Dante didn't ask immediately, but he waited a couple of seconds, apparently focused in the notebook that was in the desk. That didn't help with Lux nervousness, but as always, she hid it perfectly.

"Where were you between twenty one o'clock and twenty two o'clock?" he questioned, his voice sounding seriously.

Lux peeked through the corner of her eye at the strange bell in her side. Her mind quickly recognized as a Lie Detector, making her to curse mentally. Why did they put something like that in front of her? They didn't trust her? Such a complicated and valuable artifact? Well, it was obvious that she wasn't going to escape so easily.

"I was walking in the institute," she didn't lie, but didn't say the whole true. Lux felt better at the sight of the bell didn't sounding.

Dante's eyes narrowed slightly. He leaned in the desk and crossed his arms.

"To where and why?" he tried this time being more specific.

"Nearing the right wing of the building," she said. "I was trying to improve my magic with some tips my friend told me."

Dante's eyes seemed to flash over the bell, but it didn't make any sound; she crossed her legs to vanish some tension. Lux was smart, it was popular knowledge that the library was in the right wing of the building, as so the training room, study rooms and a lot of places. She had to play with the slightly line that separated the lie with the truth.

"Exactly where you stopped?" he pressed her, his last question apparently being the ultimatum.

"In the study room twenty two," the girl almost singed the words, wary. "I had to check my clothes a little before keep going…"...To where? Another room in the institute? Her house? Out of the building?

Lux hoped that he buys the excuse. He may think that she was then going to do something else

"After getting out the study room, where you leaded?"

"I had to pick up something before making the way to my house."

The room was silent. Dante sighed, in some way defeated, and leaned back to his chair, closing the notebook below him and staring at her.

"Thank you for answering, Miss Lux. I know everything I need to know. You may go."

Lux almost started to dance right there, but she only smiled again and screamed mentally in her mind, but making sure that she wasn't seeing at him, before.

"Goodbye, Master Dante," she dismissed herself and walked quickly to the exit room, opening it up and getting out as fast as possible.

* * *

 **Day sixteen**

She scratched her chin, her right hand tapping the head of the Queen above the chest table. The sound of the sand running down and stacking in the end of the hourglass pressured her. Finally, she decided to move her Queen to the left, smiling satisfactorily. She leaned comfortably in her chair and smiled smugly, mocking at her company.

"It's impossible to me to win this," Noz told her, the sound of his voice almost sad. "Whatever, I'll just do this," he moved a random unit. "Come on, catch my King and finish this.

"No!" Lux cried indignantly, shaking her hands in disgust, putting back the unit to its original place. "If you do that, is not fun at all!" she said, eyebrows furrowed.

"Forget the game! I'm cited you here to tell you something!" he screamed desperately, snapping his fingers to send the table away in a blue whirlwind of magic.

"Hey! I was playing on that!"

"Look, Lux, pay attention, Gods," he smashed repeatedly the table of the room, drawing her attention to him. "Obviating the fact that I need to congratulate you for your compromise," he taunted this time, taking out a scowl of her face. "You need to change your plans of escape."

"Don't even mock me again with that, you heartless!" she cried, hugging herself. "Poor Jarvan, he…" Noz leaned over the table and tapped her nose.

"Lux, Lux, here, girlie, you heard what I said?"

"Don't touch my nose!" she slapped away his hand and crossed her arms. "Why should I change my plans? It's easy and fits with what I need."

"You considered powerful mages attending your wedding?"

Lux's demeanor dropped apart horribly, making way to an incredulous face.

"What?!" she screamed, standing up abruptly. "Wait, the summoners are going to my wedding?!"

"That's why I heard," he answered, crossing his legs and supporting his head into his hand. "So illusions won't work with them."

Lux snorted tiredly, dumping down into the chair again.

"I'm not that good in that kind of magic. I guess I would have to sneak out without anyone noticing it," she murmured to herself.

"Wrong answer!" he screamed. Lux glanced up and didn't like his smile. "Don't you remember? I told you that I was going to help."

"I… uh..." she tried to think an excuse, but in the end she shrugged. "I doesn't matter what I say, you will do whatever you want."

* * *

 **Day seventeen**

Lux extended her staff, trying to feel the essence of the forest inside of her. She closed her eyes and waited. Slowly, she could feel the familiar feeling again, making her to smile. Remembering what the book said, she tried something…. strange.

" _Hello…?"_ she talked to nobody else into her mind, feeling stupid just doing it. The book said that the magic nature in the forest was alive, just like the other one said. The objective to this was to empathize with it… in some way. There wasn't a single way, so the book gave her tips to do it. _"You hear me..? Well, I… My name is Lux and… I hope we could be friends…"_

The breeze howled, she took it as an answer so she continued.

" _I don't want to bother you, but I'm in distress. Forgive me for asking you this, but would you help me?"_

Extremely gradually, she noticed a change around her, the magic feeling different. Something inside of was permanently changed at the end of it.

* * *

 **Day eighteen**

She was waiting outside Piltover museum's doors when she faced Ezreal walking out. The effect was immediate; the ambient changed drastically as so Ezreal's face at her sight. He straightened and stared her blankly, very, very silent. Lux cringed a bit and didn't dare to smile at him.

"I was looking for you," she spoke first, not wanting to meet his blue eyes. "Would you want to talk?"

"I don't know, Lux, will you stab me in the back again? Are you making fun of me?"

Her heart tightened in pain at his words. But he has the right to be angry at her.

"At least please let me explain you," she pleaded, this time staring at him back.

"Explain what?" he questioned, his voice sounding incredulous. "That you already were already engaged when you were going out with me?"

"Everything." She answered, this time her voice sounding steady. "Please…"

Ezreal looked at her eyes, hoping to find some hint of lie in them, but failing. He took some seconds, but sighed and nodded slowly.

"Five minutes, I have work to do." He accepted almost unwillingly and turned around. "Follow me, I wanna drink some coffe."

He started to walk away without waiting for her response. She silently followed him, making sure that she was under an illusion spell. The notice of her marrying propagated at the speed of the light in almost every place, especially Piltover, so she wasn't taking any chance of anyone recognizing her.

The coffee Ezreal talked about was indeed closer, and it wasn't the one he took her out in the last date. It was a small shop in the corner of a street. It was half-full, but it seemed that they were doing fine. He opened up the door, making the bell above to ring gracefully. She followed behind, the both of them stopping at one table at the end of the place. Ezreal sat down, as so she did, in front of him. A few seconds passed in silence before one waitress walked to them, holding up a little notebook.

"Hello! My name is Layla and I'm going to be your waitress. What do you want to eat?" she asked cheerily, smiling at both of them.

"Just bring us two Cappuccinos, please," Ezreal responded for Lux, very quickly.

"Got it!" she said while writing something in her notebook. "I'll be back in a few minutes or so."

Both of them nodded before the woman went away to the bar. Losing the excuse to not face Ezreal, Lux sighed mentally and stared at him.

"I'm just going to start from the beginning."

* * *

 **Day nineteen**

"Well, show me."

Lux nodded quickly to Noz and summoned her staff. The forest around them went silent as she tried to summon its magic. As time go by, Noz started to frown in confusion, then awestruck and finally, amazement. He took a couple of steps closer and what he could saw and sense left him out of words.

Some green magic was materializing around Lux, flowing around her body, with leaves joining it. Lux's hair had some glimpses of brilliant green at the end of her threads. And when she opened her eye, he could verify that her eyes were now also green.

"Amazing." He praised, not having another word to say. "I can't believe you did it."

"Is it different?" she asked not with a voice oddly deeper than usual, making him to raise an eyebrow. "You _sense_ it different?"

"It's indeed different, your magic imprint," he assured, making her to smile for the first time in that day. Noz found disturbing how different seemed her with the green magic around her. "While in that state, your magic will be no longer traceable for anyone. You made it, congratulations."

* * *

 **Day twenty**

The pen into her fingers twirled in the sheet, writing and writing. After one minute, she finished the letter and said farewell to the addressee. She made sure to not forget anything before folding it perfectly and putting inside of the white package. She wrote in the back _'To Jarvan'_ and left in aside of the other two letters in the desk, the two of them saying _'To Garen'_ and _'To Janna'_ respectively. She saved the pen into the drawer and leaned in the desk, leaning her head into her arms and staring at the letters.

In ten days she would be escaping, and only one person knew about it beside her was Noz. To not tell her brother or Janna was hard, they were always worried of her (even his brother, who maybe sometime he gets out of himself thanks to Demacia). She wasn't going to be the Sister of the Year and the best friend either.

The thought of them having problems because of her made her to feel sick. She was tired to be the one who solves problems, so now she was the troublemaker. She was sure that Janna would understand her; not very sure of Garen, but in the end, they both would realize that this was the better. Also, she didn't want the League to be repeatedly disturbing them thanks to her and if they knew where she was. So, better safe than sorry.

She grabbed the three letters and saved them into her pocket. To Jarvan, she would give him through a maid. To Garen, she will just slip it into his pillow after the wedding day begins. No one will be in her house, anyways, so it wouldn't be a problem. To Janna, she enchanted the letter to appear in her old house in Zaun with the same spell has the letter to Dante.

Now, she has to prepare.

* * *

 **Day twenty one**

 _22 of Martii 1 CLE 09:30_

 _Dear Diary:_

 _I have so much to tell you, but I have so little time… I'm sorry for not write for years. I have gone to some… life changers. One month ago, my whole existence was upside down, but now, I guess I'm going to make the right decision for me… in the first time of my life. If everything goes well, then I'll be writing again in one week or so._

 _I'll see you later._

 _-Lux_

* * *

 **Day twenty two**

"Lux."

She was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts. Janna was in floating in front of her in the middle of the Institute's gardens. Lux was now aware about how the sun was slowly hiding in the horizon, advertising her that the day will be ending soon. But that wasn't her biggest problem now.

She straightened and leaned into the three, taping the ground beside her with her hand, telling Janna to sit down. The white haired girl listened and followed her down to the grass. They enjoyed the nightfall, how the sunrays slowly dissipated and became dark. As the last ray of light disappeared, Janna found out the courage to talk.

"Why didn't you tell me, Lux?" she asked slowly, pacifically… hurt.

The tears were unstoppable. Lux tried to fight back, but her eyes felt now like exploding of sadness.

"I was afraid." She told her, biting her lip.

"Of what?" Janna's voice didn't get any louder, but the way how it sounded now was very unsettling.

"Of everything. I have so many things going on in my life. It doesn't seem that I'll find the peace that I need. I'm tired. I just wanted to forget it for a while; at least you won't pity me." She a murmured loudly enough to her friend can listen to her. "I found out a month ago; even my brother knew about it before myself," Lux talked, this time watching the ring into her left hand.

"Well, what you exactly expect from a friend, Lux?" she said with a sad smile. "Don't you remember the time when I told you what happened to me when I was younger while living in Zaun? The things that city did to me?"

Lux went silent for a moment.

"…I do. I really pitted you, though," She laughed melancholically. "My life can't be worse than yours. I'm sorry for bothering with these stupid things…"

"Forcing to marry someone is not a silly thing, Lux," Janna said sternly, with a very deep frown in her eyebrows. "As so to live all those things… You have to pity yourself sometimes, to let someone to comfort you, you know. We may not have the same life, but each one has their stuff."

"I guess you're right," she rambled, staring at the stars that were appearing in the sky. "Well, you don't have to worry for me. Everything will be ending soon."

Janna gazed at her, puzzled.

"For good?"

"For good."

* * *

 **Day twenty three**

Lux moved around in the garden of her house, watering every plant she could reach and making sure that her mother wasn't seeing her, especially because she didn't like "to her doing the job of the servants". She watered the white roses Ezreal gave her in their first date, almost a month ago. The roses bloomed beautifully thanks to her magic, showing off every bit of its being.

She touched slightly one of them, caressing its petals and thinking how that was the day her life changed. She should thank him. If he didn't take the audacity to ask her, she probably would be inside of her room now, crying over and over to her parents… again.

She grabbed one rose and ripped off the ground, letting out a little gasp exactly when she did it. Ignoring the strange sensation, she summoned a little of her nature magic and wrapped the rose of it, freezing it in that instant. Then, she walked away to keep watering, the rose with her.

* * *

 **Day twenty four**

Her hair was falling down through her back when the door of her room sounded. She passed the brush in her hair a couple of times before left it in her nightstand and saying "come in". The door opened up and she was surprised to see Garen peeking inside of her room with his head.

"It's ok to come in?" he asked, not seeming to take note of her previous quote.

Lux chuckled a little and nodded.

"Come in, big brother," she allowed the pass.

Garen smiled and opened the door fully, his giant body making it through barely. He walked to her bed and sat down beside her. She noticed that he was hiding something in his back.

"Sorry, the city keeps me busy. I barely have time to check over you," he apologized himself.

"Don't worry for that, you're doing what you have to do," she said, holding back the unnerving tone her brain wanted to use.

He smiled goofily and deigned to show her what he was holding: a little white box with a red ribbon on it. She watched it, curious, and then exchanged her eyes to him, waiting an explanation.

"It's a gift, for you" he said, making her mouth to wide slightly in surprise. "I know I should have waited to the wedding, but… I think it's better to give it to you now."

Lux blinked and accepted the box with one hand. She gazed at him and found out that he was waiting for her to opening it. She relaxed and reached for the cover, taking it out and appreciating what was inside. It was a platinum bracelet, very tiny but big enough to fit in her wrist. She grabbed it delicately and analyzed it, discovering that was carved with tiny draws of light, the sun and finally, her name at the end. It was beautiful.

"Garen…! It's amazing!" she said with a big smile as he helped her out putting it on her wrist. "Where did you get it?"

"I made it," he confessed. Lux's face was hilarious. "Really! It was me! Well… Maybe I got some help… But it was my idea!"

Lux stared at him in awe, exchanging glances between him and her bracelet. He actually made it? Garen? She wasn't trying to be that bad with him, but she found incredibly hard to him doing something so delicate like that. But the sight of his happy face shut her down, and she only could hug him tightly.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I love it."

"It's nothing, sunshine," he hugged back. "Everything you ask."

She almost regretted to flee away.

* * *

 **Day twenty five**

She could feel it. The sensation of the end, of something that was close to culminate. That sensation when you are so close to reach the final.

She made sure to check everything, to check she has ready the letters from her loved ones, her four books in her bag, her necklace in her neck, the photo of Garen and her in the beach, hes new bracelet and her ring in her hand and, of course, her hopes not crumbling down.

She hoped everything went well.

* * *

 **Day twenty six**

The people were hysterical. Everyone was running up and down, carrying things and finishing off some details in the decorations. Lux watched the mini-fight two maids were having about which was the best place to put the ornament in one of the tables, the one were important nobles will be sitting, such as dukes. She watched how the picture windows of the palace of The King were being decorated by long curtains by men. She watched how a red carpet was being pushed from the entry of the throne room to the very throne.

Suddenly, her mother was beside of her, wearing an elegant green dress.

"You know… It's hard to me to comprehend what's going now, Lux," she said slowly, making sure that the work of the servants was well done. "In three days, you're going to marry in the palace of The King. I'm astonished."

Lux frowned deeply, noticing how Aya was trying to open one picture window to ventilate the place, falling because her lack of strength.

"It's also hard to me, too, mother," she answered, hugging her arms. "I can't believe I'm going to marry."

Augatha stroked her blonde hard, tapping slightly her upper head.

"I'm proud of you, Lux."

Lux trembled for an instant, but recovered herself instantly. She wished that her mother would have told that before, before everything.

"Thank you… That makes me feel a little better," she lied shamelessly, faking a tiny smile.

Augatha kissed her forehead and smiled.

"Don't worry, everything will be ending soon," she said before walking away. Lux followed her for a moment with her gaze.

After that, she walked to Aya, with the letter to Jarvan in one hand.

* * *

 **Day twenty seven**

She was surprised at the three bodies blocking her way out of the Summoning Room of the blue team. Her eyes took its time to fully recognize the people who were in front of her, but she can't blame them. She was stunned, too. Lux noticed Janna smiling at her, and behind of her were Ezreal and Ekko.

"Janna…?" she asked warily and a little afraid.

"Hey there, Lux," she greeted, floating at her and hugging her a little.

"What's going on?" she asked, but hugged her nonetheless. "Why is Ekko here?"

"Sup," he said, scratching the back of his head and don't glaring at her.

"And Ezreal?" she questioned uncomfortably, watching how he raised his hand and twirled it slightly.

"Hey, Lux,"

Janna stepped away of her, back to both boys' sides.

"You thought that you're going to marry without a party?" she asked, almost laughing at the sight of her face.

"You mean… a bachelorette party?" she talked gradually, sounding stupid.

"If you want to call it like that, I'm fine with that," she shrugged, this time glaring at Ekko, who straightened up and smiled at Lux a little nervously.

"Janna told me about this marriage thing, and I thought going out to celebrate you." He explained, making Lux to feel more puzzled. "So whaddya say? Wanna hang out with us?"

"I, uh…" she stammered, this time gazing at Ezreal. "And you were fine with this?"

He shrugged and smiled fondly, that type of smile he gave her in the dates.

"Yeah, you're going to marry in two days, so why not?" he answered, his voice sounding so different from before, even not changing from the Zaunit beside of him. "Do you want to?"

Lux was sure that she was having a heart attack right now. She never felt so grateful with Janna before, because this was obviously her doing. She repressed a river of tears from her eyes and smiled, nodding over and over.

"Y-yes, of course I want to!" she cried excitedly.

The three of them smiled at her. Janna rushed at her and grabbed her wrist, dragging with her.

"Then hurry up, we have so much to do!"

* * *

 **Day twenty eight**

The sound of something awaked her up. Her eyes opened and she instantly felt a horrible hangover stabbing into her head. The dark environment around her was being illuminated by the faint light of the TV, making her to remember that she was in Ekko's flat. Her head turned around slightly in the couch, catching the three sleepy bodies of Janna, Ekko and Ezreal sleeping in the floor. The black boy was comically twisted, with mouth open and saliva rolling out of it. Janna was ball-shaped, snorting just _slightly_ , opening and closing her lips. And Ezreal was murmuring something in dreams, shaking his head and scowling at no one, making her to laugh silently.

Lux rolled of the couch, falling down in the floor into her knees. She rubbed her head with one hand and tried really hard to not pass out there to keep sleeping. She could almost hear her mother's screams about why she wasn't in house already to prepare to tomorrow. Her head only hurt more.

She gathered the enough will to force her legs to stand up slowly, being careful to not fall down again. Her eyes reacted like a vampire when a few rays of light passed through the louver in the only window, making her to wrinkle them. She covered the corner of them with one hand and started to maneuver around the empty bottles of alcohol, pizza boxes and fry bags. Her mother would qualify this as an act of "savage people." She really liked to be savage.

Somehow, she managed to get to the principal door. Her hand tried a couple of time to open it before she realized that the door has a small latch. Laughing silently, she turned it, making a little sound. She knobbed the door but she didn't went out immediately. She turned around and gazed at the three people for a moment.

This was probably the last time she would ever saw them; and her eyes wasn't collaborating. She made sure to remember all of their faces, even Ekko; that guy was way too nice. She regretted not knowing him sooner. She regretted not seeing him and Janna developing as a couple. She regretted not to be something with Ezreal.

She regretted so many things.

" _Goodbye…"_ she whispered to the air.

When one of her feet touched the floor of the hallway of the building, Janna's sleepy voice stopped her.

"Lux…"

Lux boggled involuntary, surprised. She flipped in and faced the eyes of her friend.

"Hey, Janna," she said, making sure to lower her voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Like, really bad… My head hurts a lot…" the girl answered, her voice sounding hoarse. "Where… where are you going?"

Lux smiled softly.

"I'm going back home. I didn't want to none of you get awake, so I tried to do it silently."

Janna blinked. She was silent for a moment.

"After tomorrow, I will see you again?" she asked, surprising Lux the hell out of it. "I really wanted to be your bridesmaid, you know…"

Lux leaned into the wall beside her, her legs almost falling.

"I… really wanted that, too…" Lux spoke, her voice broken. "I... will be back. Don't worry."

"You promise?" she whispered.

"I promise."

* * *

 **Day twenty nine**

All the gazes were on her, feeling like daggers embedding into her skin. She strode through the red carpet, arm by arm with her father, Vicent. Everyone was standing up from their seats beside them, watching her intently. She never saw so much hypocrisy before. Jarvan was waiting for her in the altar, the tuxedo on him making him look amazingly gorgeous. Behind him, was the priest. Noz hadn't made any signs of life yet. She was worried; what if someone caught him? But now it was too late; she needed to escape.

As she walked with her grandmother's dress, she tried kept and eye in the hidden runes surrounding the place, the veil in her head hindering the process. In the right moment, some of them will activate, dazzling the whole room and giving her the time to run away. Her head turned around just the necessary to gaze to the very founder of the League of Legends, as a guest of the wedding. Her nervousness went bigger. Where the hell was Noz?

"Just a couple of steps more and you'll be the wife of another man," Vicent whispered suddenly, snapping her out. "I can't believe how fast the time goes by…"

"Me neither, father," she answered with low voice, focusing her gaze in Jarvan, which was closer now.

"I only have to say that I'm proud of you, Lux."

She stared at him intently. _You only are proud of the future Queen._ She smiled.

"Thank you."

They finally reached the end. Lux dropped the arm of her father and slowly started to climb the stairs to the altar, making sure that she wasn't going to trip over on it. She walked to Jarvan's side and faced him, smiling as always. Her father followed her steps, but walked to behind her, standing beside of her mother. Lux's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Shyvana behind Jarvan, a couple of meters away just like her parents. Alongside of her, was The King. Her heart felt bad when she made eye contact with her. But everything will be ending soon.

Jarvan smiled at her. I wasn't the happiest smile of him, but it also wasn't an unhappy one. It was a resigned one, a smile that contrasted so much with hers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are here reunited to celebrate the union of two people loved by the people: Luxanna and Jarvan," the old man talked, being the only thing that could be heard in the place. "May the one who's got the rings come closer, please."

Vicent quickly moved to them and extended his hand, opening it up ad revealing two beautiful diamond-shaped rings. Jarvan picked hers, as so she picked his'. The man backed off after that. Lux and Jarvan united its hands and watched the priest expectantly.

"Jarvan, do you take Luxanna to be your wife? Do you promise to be faithful to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love her and to honor her all the days of your life?"

Lux stared at Jarvan, her eyes twinkling, watching in the corner of her eyes how a couple of guards were running out of the room. Her pulse accelerated.

"I do." He said and grabbed her hand to put the ring into her finger.

"Luxanna, do you take Jarvan to be your husband? Do you promise to be faithful to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love him and to honor him all the days of your life?

Lux held her breath, frozen. Everyone was seeing at her, expecting to say yes. She didn't want to. Where was Noz? Did he dump her? She just couldn't keep doing what everyone wants of her. But they were seeing her, in the middle of the altar, hesitating… She…

"I do," she answered, repeating the same thing Jarvan has done.

"Very well. By the power God grants me, I declare you…"

Suddenly, a massive explosion flooded everyone's ears. Lux opened her mouth widely and reeled on the floor, almost falling down if it wasn't for the grab of Jarvan in her arms.

"What's going on?!" she cried.

"We're under attack!" said the voice from one of the guards at the end of the room.

That was the outbreak. The first scream was from a woman, and then came another, and another. Everyone started to run out of the place; Jarvan caught Lux's attention; the expression on his face being worried.

"We have to get out now!" he screamed, moving towards the exit, dragging her with him.

But before they even could make some steps, the room was covered by a dazzling light; no shadow could be seen. It was an instant, but she felt how Jarvan's grasp loosened force for a moment. She took the chance and broke free from his hand. With an extreme pain in her heart, she summoned her bath and cut the long part of the dress, allowing her to run without any problem.

As almost everyone was having the worst time of her life, Lux stormed off to behind the throne, facing a stone wall. She pressed one of the bricks, making the wall to crumble for a moment before a secret passageway appeared. Without any hesitation, she started to run through the dark corridors, using her light to illuminate the way.

" **Minion Noz reporting…!"**

" _Noz! I was worried about you! Why took you so long to explode some things?!"_

" **Hey! In my defense, there were a lot of people guarding everywhere! Even a few summoners!"**

" _Well, it doesn't matters right now; I need to run or they will catch me up!"_

" **Don't worry, I already got that. Just make sure to get out of the palace and to reach the forest."**

" _I hope the runes work…"_

Her thoughts were finished when her eyes caught a door at the end of the way. She quickly rushed at it and smashed her hand into the knob, turning it around and opening it. The sunlight splashed around her body, with the sight of the forest not too far away from her.

" **The protections of the runes end here. I guess this is the goodbye."**

" _I believe so… I wanted to do this properly, but I guess that it won't be possible. Thank you. For everything."_

" **You're welcome, my friend. Now run, runaway girl!"**

* * *

When the strange light faded, the first one to react was Dante. After a quick scan with his eyes around the room, he rushed to the altar, noticing Lux's absence. His senses quickly told him that something was off; almost everyone was already out of there.

"Lux?! Where is she?!" Augatha screamed, running to Jarvan, with Vicent behind of her. "We need to find her!"

"I don't know what happened! She was with me and then that light blinded everything!" Jarvan screamed, very upset.

Shyvana was suddenly at his side, drawing the attention of everyone there.

"I sent The King with a couple of guards; they'll escort him to the castle." Jarvan seemed to relax a little about hearing that at least his father was fine, but his stern expression wasn't telling the same thing. "What was that light? Where's Lux?"

"I don't know, but she's gone" he answered, and faced Dante. "Can't you do anything?"

"I'm already on it, boy," Dante answered, closing his eyes and focusing.

Being oddly difficult this time, he finally managed to sense the magic of moving away quickly to the west, barely catching it, making him to be puzzled; usually, his senses were way better.

"Over there," he said before running behind the throne, with everyone behind him.

They faced the hidden way. Dante almost started to run into it, when the dark passage was suddenly illuminated with small explosions. Everyone backed off in surprise, being necessary to wait a couple of seconds before the smoke dissipating. The passage was now blocked with giant rocks, sealing it. Dante scowled and raised his hand to use his magic to clean the way. He was surprised one more time when just little sparkles of blue light came out of his hand. It took an instant to his mind to realize what just happened. _"Runes of magic suppression?! That girl! And even enough powerful to restrict my magic?!"_

"Where it leads this passage?" he asked to Jarvan.

"It's a secret passage; it's supposed to be used only in an emergency," he answered. "But it doesn't make any sense. This is only knowledge from my family; Lux is not aware of this"

"Well, looks like you didn't know her very well, boy," he said harshly. "We need to find her; bring everyone who could help, now!"

* * *

She never ran as fast like that before. Her legs itched painfully, but she ignored it. Her breath was punching hard in her lungs, but the thought of being caught encouraged her escape. It was lucky to her to have the forest so close of the palace. When she reached to it, she would have to run alongside to the lane to the closest city. From there, her journey to Noxus will begin.

The forest was suddenly filled with the loud steps of a woman running with a white dress, jumping roots and avoiding the giant branches. That woman stopped after a few minutes, raised her staff and went still for a moment. Green magic started to surround her, changing her demeanor considerably. Only after that, she started to run again, revitalized.

* * *

Dante stopped straight into the entry of the forest, extremely angry. After going out on the chase of the fugitive, he found out that not only the summoners he brought were unconscious in random places of the palace, but as so the guards, too! And now, he loosed the track of the girl.

"What happened, don't you feel her?" Jarvan's presence made known, with Shyvana and a few guards beside him.

"No, I can't sense anything more. She just disappeared into the forest," he hissed, gritting his teeth.

Not only he couldn't feel a single bit of her magic, but he felt rejected by the very forest. Whenever he tried to scan the area, the magic repudiated his'. He didn't know what to think about it, but he needed to find that girl now.

He should have listened to his comrades. She was the thief.

* * *

 **FINALLY I FINISHED THIS.**

 **I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for all the reviews, faws, and follows. That really encourages me to keep writing.**

 **And don't worry; I'm not stopping writing this anytime soon. I really enjoy doing it. This chapter probably has some narration lacking, but I wanted to publish it so badly…**

 **In the next chapter, we may see Xayah and Rakan or we may not, I'm not sure. But we are close!**

 **Fun fact: did you know that I shipped Ekko x Lux? And Talon x Lux? Weird**

 **Bye!**

 **PS: looks like I have a trouble with the words "his" and "her", I confuse it. You see, in Spanish it's just one word: "su", so don't be triggered, thanks!**


	4. Runaway Girl

**I'll try to not write too much here because it may annoy all of you the big amount of words I use here. So let's get straight to the point:**

 **Xayah and Rakan won't be appearing here, SORRY. I promise them for the next chapter.**

 **Apologies at the end!**

 **I tried to edit it, but it was SO much. Ironic, I know! Apologies!**

 **Please review, feedback, MP ME, WHATEVER YOU LIKE!**

* * *

 **4\. Runaway Girl**

Her breath was unstable as she ran across the forest. Her legs protested painfully as she jumped again to avoid an unfaithful root, grabbing her dress to avoid it to catch itself in the woods. She didn't know how much time passed since the last time she was in Demacia, but the sun was still up, and that was enough to tell her that she still wasn't far away enough. Her mind quickly analysed through her memories and it told her that, if her calculations were right, she was still in the middle of the way between Demacia and Sagitta, the closest village.

Her body started to feel dizzy as she kept forcing the nature magic through it, warning her that if she keeps running, the consequences will be severe. Something clicked into her senses, making her to stop abruptly. She leaned her hands into her knees, trying to catch her breath again. She ignored the sweat running down through her forehead, and the thought was clear to her. She needed to rest.

Unlike everyone may think, she wasn't in a very fit state. Sure, she was thin and stuff, but she wasn't the type who rise early to crush her body into the heavy mass of weights or the gravity pushing her down while running kilometres. Being healthy was more than enough to her body to stand in good state; and she hasn't reported to train to military months. So, feeling completely unsafe and stupid by what she was about to do, her eyes darted across the clearing, trying to find somewhere nice to rest. To a normal person, the only things that were there trees: completely useless, but for her were more than enough.

Enduring the tiredness in her legs, she walked to a giant tree in the middle of the forest, stopping in front of it and breathing the last necessary air to feel, at least, more relieved. She tried to use again her magic nature, closing her eyes for a moment and allowing her magic to her skin. She grabbed the cortex with her fingers, the nature magic doing its job, and started climbing. Breath after breath, she managed to reach one branch big enough to her body to lie down and rest. She rolled carefully at the center of it and lied down facing the sky. Lux's eyes didn't furrow a single bit this time when the sunlight splashed around all her face, this time in her eyes. So chose instead to relax and to think what she would do next.

Her mind came up with the thought of her chasers, possible chasers. But she wasn't afraid, however. Inside in the forest, it was very unlikely to anyone find her, especially while using nature magic. She has her magic imprint hidden for now, but she has to work with it, to try to open fully her link to nature. She was sure that the state of untraceable of her was thanks to her constant suction of the wild magic around her, but not because her imprint was permanently changed. She still wasn't in symphony with the nature; and her body won't stand the magic flowing inside forever, at least not now. But to practice, she has to rest first.

Her eyes slowly started to fall down closed, her body attached to the branch like if it was a root into the dirt. The wind howled and some leaves started to raise and to move around her gracefully.

It was one moment. Her eyes closed and she felt outside the world. Her energies came up abruptly into her body, making her to sit straight, almost making her to fall down dangerously into the ground, being a couple of meters away from the dirt. Her head felt confused and some dizzy, but when she managed to recognize the sun almost starting to hide, an alarm turned on into her head.

Don't wanting to left trace, she immediately summoned nature magic to replace her light magic. Not using her normal magic won't assure her hiddenness, or that was the book said. So, gathering more focus, she again tried to catch as magic nature as she could.

Lux peeked at the ground, relieved that nothing was waiting for her at the end. She carefully moved at the trunk and, with the help of her magic, started to climb down, liking the odd sensation of the wood into her fingers. After a few minutes, she jumped the little space left and glanced around the entire environment. She spent a couple of seconds looking up at the stars that were slowly appearing in the sky before starting to run again.

The way didn't feel obnoxious as before, the slightly dark ambient helping a lot, making her feel safer. Dark was… odd for her. She knew for sure that the Dark she talks to eradicate was one thing, but then, there was that… darkness she liked. It was her best friend while she entered at the military and when she spent countless weeks at Noxus' underground. That darkness was gradually appearing around her; it felt the same way as the forest; like it was talking to her in a strange way.

She tried to not feel distracted by her thoughts as she kept moving into the fogs and keeping an eye around her. As a few kilometres went by, the trees started to be scarce, its size being smaller and smaller as well. Her vision caught immediately the sight of harvest fields and small houses at the distance. She noticed how the trees suddenly stopped to appearing, forming a single line that separated the forest between the town of Sagitta. She quickly rushed behind a tree and her eyes analysed the whole situation. Sagitta was a town dedicated to farming, so she wasn't surprised seeing a lot of harvest fields occupying the fermented earth, with a few houses not being too far away from each other. As the sun made its latest efforts to hide, her gaze connected with a little girl, which was staring at her back.

Lux froze, with her mouth slightly open. She quickly glanced at the kid, noticing how she was holding a doll with also a bridal dress, but way prettier than her broken one. Now that would be problematic. She was supposed to sneak in the town without being noticed anyone.

"Miss…?" came the voice from the kid, hesitant. Lux smiled slightly, trying to chill her down. "Why are you hiding behind a tree?" she asked, this time watching her deep green eyes and how they seemed to glow in the darkness, not seeming to mind it at all.

"Oh, hey there" Lux said, moving slowly away from the tree. "I was just… watching the big barn from there."

The girl frowned and turned her head around; checking up that Lux effectively was watching the red barn of her family, a dozens of meters away from them.

"Oh, right," she said, facing her again and smiling innocently. When she faced Lux again, her eyes widened, finally noticing her dress. "Oh no! What happened to your dress?"

The blonde blinked and paid a look to her outfit.

"Oh, this?" she shrugged, chuckling a little. "Don't pay attention to it. It's just… I had to cut it down to run."

The kid frowned in confusion, hugging her doll. She shook her head.

"Why did you have to cut it down?" she asked slowly. "You don't wanna marry?"

Lux sighed slowly, smiling gloomily at her.

"You're right. I didn't want to marry today."

Her answer was followed by a silence, with Lux passing by the trees and sitting down in the ground almost uncomfortably, thanks to her dress. Her companion walked at her, apparently without fearing of her anymore. She also sat down and started to caress the white threads, admiring it closely.

"My mom always told me the day you marry is the best day of your life," she rambled, frowning a little. "Did she was wrong?"

"Well, I didn't marry today, did I?" Lux said playfully, stealing a goofy smile from her. "That's very wise from her. I'm still looking for the best day of my life; probably it could be that one."

They both stood in silence, watching now the sky was finally becoming dark.

"Wait, isn't too late to you?" The elder said, with one eyebrow raised. "Wouldn't you get in trouble?"

"Oh, I totally forgot!" she answered, boggling and standing up abruptly, watching with fear the direction at her home. "Mom is going to kill me!"

Lux laughed a little, standing up as well.

"I should go, too."

The girl snapped out of the dread state of hers and stared at her in curiosity.

"Where are you going, miss? It is too far away?"

Lux considered the idea of not telling her about anything, but what harm she possibly could do? It was just a little girl.

"Well, it's indeed very far away from here," she answered, smiling slightly. "This is barely the first stop of many."

"And you're going to make all the way through with your wedding dress?!" she screamed, indignant. "Wait here!"

Lux opened her mouth to try to say something, but all her efforts weren't enough to stop the kid to run away in the direction from the barn, passing by it and still running, probably at her house. She furrowed her lips and stared at her dress, picking some with her hands. She was right. She would make all the way to Ionia wearing that? It wasn't like she had the chance to pack clothes, her backpack not being big enough for it, but a bridal dress?

" _Seriously, Lux?"_ she told herself. _"A kid pointed you out a big mistake. You are becoming so blunt."_

She sighed and waited, counting the stars and thinking about her empty stomach. Her head turned around at the forest again, considering the possibility return for a moment and find something to eat, but it would be too rude from her if she walks away just like that. So she ignored all the complaints and waited patiently.

Loud steps awakened her from her trance, drawing her attention at the silhouette of the little girl running back at her again, holding something in her hands. Lux's eyes narrowed, trying to recognize what she was holding, giving up effort after a couple of seconds.

Finally, she was in front of her, breathing heavily, but a smile in her face. The blonde smiled at her and watched with questioning the brown bag in the girl's hands.

"What's this?" she asked with curiosity, incorporating herself and walking at her.

She only smiled at her question and putted her little hand inside the bag, taking out two pieces of clothes. Lux's eyes widened at the realization of what she was doing for her.

"Here, take these clothes," the kid said, putting the clothes back inside of the bag and handing it over to her. "This is some old clothes from my mum; you will make a better use of it!"

Lux blinked, but accepted slowly the gift into her hands, surprised by the gratitude.

"Thank you, but are you sure of this?" Lux said, noticing that, to her dismay, the bag also contained two boots to wear. Her mind clicked and she suddenly remembered that she ran way with two giant heels. Peeking at her feet, she noticed that both were bare. She didn't notice. "Your mother is alright with it?

"She would!" She answered dismissevly, grabbing Lux's wrist and dragging her at the barn. "C'mon, you can change there!"

"Wait, how she would?!" Lux called alarmingly, resisting the grab and looking around expectantly, expecting a furious mother to come out the darkness and jump to her jugular.

"Well, the thing is… I didn't quite tell her about you," she answered shyly, laughing nervously and reaching for the barn's big doors, pushing both. "But it doesn't matter! She won't notice if we hurry up!"

Lux let out a little yelp of surprise at being pulled towards inside the building. She sighed and watched how the girl peeked outside suspiciously before closing the doors. She then turned around and pointed out with her finger towards a pile of hay bale.

"Quickly, you can change behind of that hay!" She cried, urging her to hurry up. "Oh, right, I'm Anna! I didn't tell you my name, sorry!"

Lux smiled slightly, hugging the bag.

"I'm Lux. Didn't told you either," she said before running behind the hay. She dropped carefully the bag and started to struggle with her dress, trying to take it out as fast as she can. "Are you sure this will fit me?" she asked, sliding her arms out of the dress and fighting with her legs.

"Yeah, don't worry! She is as slim as you; like a stick!" she said, sitting in an old wood chair.

"Hey, I'm not that slim!" Lux protested indignantly, finally pulling out the dress of her and ignoring the cold breeze running through her almost naked body. She quickly folded her dress to put it inside the bag, feeling bad about how short the dress truly was. It's like a dress one would use in a club. At least, she has a lot of space. "I'm gracefully svelte."

"Yeah, yeah, hurry up!"

Lux huffed impatiently, grabbing a red square shirt and passing it through her shoulders and buttoning it up before following with the dark jeans. She didn't waste any further time thinking that effectively the clothes suited perfectly on her; instead she chose to grab the brown boots and putting it in both feet. The mage walked a couple of steps, deciding that she liked her new clothes and stepped out the hay, grabbing the brown bag.

Anna's gaze examined without any shame her silhouette, nodding and smiling. Lux blushed a little.

"How do I look?" she asked, making a little flip.

"Great," she answered, jumping out the chair and walking at her. "You can take the bag with you; it's also old enough to give to you." Anna assured confidently. Lux smiled, not knowing if she has to thank her or feel bad. "But hey, are you going to travel at night? Mom always says I never should go outside at night."

"Your mom's alright," she answered, grabbing the bag and hanging it up in her left shoulder. "But I have no choice; I need to keep going."

Anna pouted sadly, not happy with Lux. Lux smiled at her face and walked at her, crouching down at her.

"Tell me, Anna, do you like roses?" she asked with a confident smile.

Anna frowned in confusion, not knowing why she was asking that all of sudden.

"Of course! They are so pretty," she answered. "We even tried to plant some, but they always dried out at the end of the season. They're pretty hard to grow."

"Then I have a gift to you," the blond said. She focused again in the nature magic, making her hair green again. She heard a "woah" from Anna as she twirled her hand. The white rose Ezreal gave her appeared in her hand in a flash of green light.

"Miss!" Anna said with her voice muffed with awe. "Are you a mage?!" she cried, trying to reach the green sparkles that were floating around Lux's hair.

"I'm just an ordinary mage," she joked, giving the rose at her. "This is a very special rose. Just put it in the dirt and water it every day. It will grow even in winter, I promise!"

Anna's eyes shined with amazement before grabbing the rose carefully with her hands. Lux watched her for a couple of seconds before she straightened her body and looking at the exit.

"You don't have to worry for me, Anna," Lux assured, walking at the barn's doors and opening it slightly. "I wish the word has more lightened people just look you!"

Anna laughed happily and rushed at her side, almost hugging the rose into her chest.

"I wish I had that cool magic you have," she said, stealing a smile from Lux.

They slowly opened the doors, peeking outside and making sure that no one was around before getting out and closing the barn.

"Aw, too bad I have to go. I wish we could talk more," the blonde pouted, glancing at the horizon. She turned around and glanced at Anna one last time. "I guess this is the goodbye."

Anna nodded, smiling unapologetically, but sad. Lux checked her clothes one last time before smile to the little girl and start to jog away, in a parallel direction at

"Bye-bye, Lux!" she cried, moving her hand.

"Bye, Anna!" she answered without turning her back, but her smile never faltering.

" _ANNA, WHERE ARE YOU?!"_ a voice echoed horribly through the air, making them both to boggle in surprise. _"You better not be outside! CAM, WHERE'S ANNA?!"_

"Crap!" Anna almost huffed, the fear being almost palpable in her voice. She turned around and quickly started to run at her house.

Lux blinked, being still in her spot watching the show. One second later, she laughed loudly and came back to her way, feeling delighted by the little encounter. Such a coincidence seemed to occur to her. At least she still has some luck.

She tried to keep her pace as silent as possible, moving very fast between the grasses and jumping some fences into the private proprieties. Her eyes connected with an apple tree at the distance, fully grown and with delicious apples to harvest. Her stomach ordered to her to get some food and she listened, praying internally that those farmers she was stealing from wouldn't have anything dangerous to use to shoot at her. Her gaze suspiciously glanced at the window of the house, almost beside the tree, and covered with one curtain that glowed yellow. One climb later, she managed to get a dozen of apples ready to eat. Lux laughed mischievously, not feeling bad a single bit, and disgusting her first food in hours. As her throat was chucked up, her body was back into the running again. She jumped a big fence without any problem and almost run in into a man. She was unable to gasp in surprise, but she managed to back off again, using the walls of the house as a hiding place.

" _Goddammit this fucking horse!"_ an old man screamed to, apparently, a horse. Lux frowned in disgust at the use of words, remembering when she cursed a month ago. _"This shit can't do a fucking thing! You are completely useless!"_

And as the horse seemed to understand what he said, he neighed almost angrily. She tried hard to not laugh, managing it barely and paying attention one more time. Her mind remembered painfully to her the old memory of her old steed, Starfire. She locked the memory away in an instant; pretending to never have remembered it.

" _You know WHAT? FUCK OFF!"_ the man screamed with full force, storming in his house, not without banging the door loudly.

Lux's face contracted in disbelief as she approached at the end of the wall, slowly making sure that no one was watching her. She glanced at the entry of the house, checking that the windows were covered by curtains before start to find the horse. She found a black horse already with a mount, wandering a couple of meters away from her. Her mind quickly connected the fact that she needed transport and that she has got some apples to do the job. She bit her lip.

Maybe that was another coincidence?

She slowly walked off the wall, moving with care steps at the horse. He seemed to notice her because he stopped to walking around and started to stare at her, almost expectantly. Lux tried to avoid making the grass sound with her new boots as she stopped in front of him. She smiled, but not too bright.

"Hey, buddy," she whispered slowly, holding up bot her hands up and making eye-contact she was taught to do long time ago. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? Here," she said, grabbing an apple from her almost exploding bag and handing over it to the horse. "It's all yours."

The animal whined smoothly before leaning into her hand to bite the apple, devouring it in a couple of seconds. The mage watched this satisfactorily, glad that the animal didn't seem afraid of her. She shook off her hand to take away everything unpleasant before focus again in the horse.

"Now I'm going to your side innocently, okay? Don't make any move…" She spoke as the horse's eyes followed her moving, right into its side. She confidently lifted her right leg to put it in the stirrup, using her hands to grab her body into the mount and boosting it with her force, gracefully landing above. She moved her butt to make herself confortable and she sighed happily. The horse didn't seem to be bothered by what she has done, too.

"Well, that was easy," she said to herself, frowning a little after a couple of seconds. "Maybe too easy…"

She watched with extreme paranoid at the forest, direction which she came from, expecting a full army of men to come out and to start to chase her. Nobody came seconds later. Lux sighed. She should keep going now.

"I hope you're ready for a long night," she talked to the horse, who merely whined at her. "I'm going to call you… Tenebris! We'll make such a good friends!" she said excitedly, caressing his snout delicately. "Now, let's get out of this place before that crazy man catch us."

Sagitta was such a good place.

* * *

The days passed, and quickly followed weeks. Lux's journey went without any big problem. After crossing the limits of Sagitta, she travelled for a few hours with Tenebris, always making sure that she was nature magic into her body. The road that followed Sagitta was free of any tree, so she didn't have the privilege to stop to rest for a moment. She was glad that Tenebris was completely fine with its new owner, and he wasn't tired in the slightest after they abandoned the small town.

Traveling around all Valoran was definitely way different than she used to remember, the memories of her whole life betrayed her. She felt sad that most of the times, the only reason she has to get out of Demacia to travel any place but the League, was because a mission. She has never got the chance to explore the world, to see it by herself, yet she knew it very well. She knew where she was exactly right now, but she never has been here. She recognises the kind of tree besides the path, but she has never touched it. She recognizes that bird that flied off, but she was actually delighted by seeing its green feathers for first time.

The path between Demacia and the Mashes of Kaladoun, felt completely new at her. She saw with awe the Great Barrier that spltted up Valoran in half as she tried to not lose focus in the nature magic, and also to keep a balance in Tenebris, which was moving with regular pace at West. The memories of her short past there appeared in her mind, making her to smile ironically. There, she has the darkest and brightest moments in her whole life. The moment when she finally connected entirely with her light… and the things she was forced to do to reach it. The Solari were the only known who knew how to use the powers of the sun, which derived her light magic. They were delighted by seeing a light mage after so, so many years of not seeing a single one. They weren't the ones who coerced her to accept its teachings, but Demacia. That didn't mean that they were too soft with her, though.

She asked to herself if Leona was up there, doing her Solari stuff and dealing with Diana, away from the whole word; in a plain simple way to say it. She felt her mind blurred for a moment; she didn't though Mount Targon as a place to hide, but it should be her second option if everything went wrong in Ioina. At least, she wouldn't be bothered by the rest of the world up there. She just first had to work on her magic imprint; so Ionia is still the best option.

She sighed as she started to see glimpse of marsh appearing gradually in the road. She played with her black dyed hair, still feeling weir about it. When she stepped out Sagitta, the whole word seemed to know about her betrayal to Demacia. Almost every town or village she stopped to get (steal) provision for the trip, she could hear her name whispering mouth by mouth, some of them fearing her. Lux felt bad. They surely thought that now she would be a bad guy.

And the worst part is (excluding that she almost reached the marsh), is that because the League of Legends was an allied of almost every single town in Valoran, they surely made them to know that, despite not having proofs, she was the thief who stole two precious books. She was sure that now she is pretty much one of the most wanted people in the word. And yet she managed to stay hidden by just using wild magic. But because the magic nature doesn't change her physical appearance enough, she had to do it by the traditional methods: dying his hair and using contact lenses. She applied some make-up in her face to conceal some major features and she was fine.

" _Neat trick,"_ she thought playfully.

Tenebris huffed in tiredness after the long walk. She let out a compassionate exclamation as she stroked its snout delicately.

"Good boy, we're almost there" she said reassuringly and smiling. "It would be hard to warm in night, but I'll handle it."

She really tried to stay positive, but the thought of spend a cold night in the middle of the marsh wasn't helping her out. She sighed. At least, she wasn't supposed to face any champion there. It would be hard to reach the forests of Ionia without face one.

The mage cringed around her body, feeling how the nature magic in her body slowly dissipated to give way to the weird one from the marshes. She didn't quite know how to describe it, but it was somewhat… sticky, different from the one she was used to. The green faints on her hair almost disappeared, as so the minimal glow into her eyes. The contact lenses almost hide it completely, but it wasn't a problem.

She sighed. At least it was safer being around trees than the bare road.

* * *

Lux walked carefully around the mud, grabbing Tenebris by its rope to avoid falling down in the ground. The night will be falling soon in the marsh, and she still has to find a good place to settle to spend the night. She tried to focus in her environment, not paying attention at the unnerving sounds of the insects and being lucky enough to pick up some dry firewood. Her horse slowly followed her behind, obediently and not making any sudden move. It was surrealistic, but she loved it.

The girl focused her gaze at the distance, recognising a miraculous spot, free of backwater and conveniently in a shape of a small hill. Lux smiled excitedly and rushed the pace, dodging puddles and guiding Tenebris through the way. A few seconds later, she managed to reach the little hill. As she dropped the wood into the ground, Lux grabbed her new-acquired canteen, a little gift she made to herself in the second parade, and slowly approached to her horse, carefully making it drink its contents. She sighed sadly, that wasn't enough, but it was all she has for now. She reached for her other bag in the back from Tenebris and grabbed two apples to give him to eat.

After feeding him, she moved to a weak-shaped tree, grabbing the robe and knotting it to the tree. She turned around and faced Tenebris.

"I'll be right back with some food… If I'm lucky," she said carefully, petting the snout. "Wait here."

Tenebris whined slightly and Lux smiled. She flipped and started to run quickly at the North of the marsh. The Serpentine River was just right above her, being kilometres far away, but the river disembogues very close to her position. Her hand reached for the small hairpin in it, unravelling it from her head as she ran, always making sure to not forget to use nature magic. She repressed a grin of discomfort as she replaced more magic into her body, still not getting used to it.

Lux moved across the dangerous environment, almost slipping thanks to the wet dirt and the deceptive water. She moved for some time, always taking note of the position of the sun to have an idea what hour it is. She grabbed a rock and carved a random tree, leaving a signal to make easier to come back later. The end of the Sepertine Riven wasn't too far away, so she managed to reach it after a half-hour. The marsh slowly started to disappear, being only glimpses of it at the appearance of disembogue. Lux narrowed her eyes, passing by one small stream and jumping it, landing in the other side. Her eyes immediately connected with the shallow waters, trying to find something there to eat. She strode through the grass that was about between green and brown, the two biomes joining.

The girl slowly walked at the edge of the waters. Lux sat down and took out one of the laces of her boot and knotted it tight in the hairpin. She tested it to make sure that it won't break before start to looking for an unlucky insect. She found a small beetle moving peacefully away a couple of meters from her. Using the same rock than before, she closed her eyes and smashed it to the animal. Now she has some bait.

The mage grabbed it quickly and inserted it in her make-shift hook. Lux twirled the lace in the wind before throwing the hook into the water, sighing silently and watching the bait floating in the word, hoping that she would catch somewhat to eat. She stood there quietly, waiting patiently to something to happen. But after a few moments… nothing happened.

Lux repressed an exasperated sigh and decided to try something new. Closing her eyes, she canalized the tiniest of nature magic into the lace, guiding it through the fibre till the hook. A second later, the water started to glow in a faint green around her bait. No more than a minute later, the hook quickly was engulfed not catching her by surprise. She quickly stood up and pulled back with the necessary force, pulling out the water an average sized carp. She caught it in the middle of the air flawlessly, using her body to restrain the resistance from the fish and, using the same sharp rock she used before, she quickly cut of the head from the gills. The animal stopped instantly after that. The girl went down and tried to clean up her food as much as she was capable, washing away the blood and the things she didn't want inside her body. She repeated the process with her lace and hairpin.

She straightened again and returned the lace into her boot again and attached her hair again with the hairpin, putting back in place. Lux grabbed carefully her precious fish and started to run back into the marsh, jumping the stream from before and following the indications she left. Another half hour later, she noticed at the distance the big figure of Tenebris lying in the ground, apparently relaxing. Lux quickly finished hiking and walked at him, grabbing her bag and leaving the fish there momentary. She then started to seek for rocks big enough to form a small bonfire. That proved to be a task that tested Lux's nervousness, but she managed to do it after a few minutes, anyways. The rocks forming a circular spot and safely away from anything flammable, the girl picked up the firewood again and accommodated in the centre. She then proceeded to ignite the wood using a small stick in the ground. Small sparkles appeared, reacting at Lux's encouraging breath, before turn into a small fire that spread across the wood. Lux smiled satisfactorily; Garen would be pleased.

The rest of the day went by her cooking her food and hitting the hay with the well-received warm from Tenebris. Her paranoia of anyone finding her made her sleep. In the next days, she would be hitting half way.

The whole process of sleeping went by in amazing speed. Lux, used to almost not fully rest, felt how the time passed in an incredible amount of time. She closed her eyes and she felt out the world for a moment, just for the next moment to come by, forcing her to open her eyes again. The bonfire was now a pile of ashes in the ground, and the moon was still in the sky. But yet she knew she has to move; her internal clock told her that now was five in the morning. She stretched her muscles before quietly wake up Tenebris. She slowly stood up and cleaned everything before setting everything to start to move again.

She was surprised to found that her body already sympathized with its new nature magic inside. She also found out that she no longer needs to keep canalizing magic in; her body do it by itself now. She was close.

* * *

"Have you heard about that girl who ran away from that city Demacia?" a gossip old woman whispered to another, leaning in the street stall in the middle of the twin city of Asthangi, Shanti, in the North of the Academy of War. "Everyone's talking about it; they said that she is now an enemy of everyone, even of that League of Legends itself."

"Oh, I did hear it," another woman huffed as she saved oranges and pineapples in a bag. She leaned slightly as she was saying a super-confidential secret. "But I don't know why everyone is so afraid of it; it's just a girl! A good army can handle her."

The peddler furrowed her nose hideously, shaking her head. "I've heard that she is a high skilled thief that stole something from the Insitute of War; and they can't catch up with her! She suddenly disappeared from the earth!" she cried alarmingly, spreading her mood to the other woman. "A lot of people say that she even started to be a troublemaker, going so far to even kill a man."

"That's unbelievable!" she answered. "That…!" she was abruptly interrupted when a black horse ran almost above her, forcing the woman to let out a little scream and to move just in time to avoid being crushed. Both women stood in silence for a couple of seconds, staring incredulously at the figure with a black hood which was mounting the animal, quickly moving away in the middle of the street. "That punk! How does the authorities allow this?!"

The black figure above the horse kept moving. She ignored all the angry shouts from the people who she almost crushed and grabbed hard the mount of the animal, hiding behind her hood; she didn't care. The horse moved straight to the East exit from the city, not stopping by any reason. Suddenly a couple of guards were almost beside her, trying to stop her for keep fleeing. She didn't hesitated when she raised her right leg and kicked one of them straight into his chest, dragging the other one with him thanks to the thrust. But then another came from the other side, and then there was dozens of them running at the gate to block it. She sighed exasperately and, with a lot of effort, she focused in the magic inside and raised her hand, which glowed green. The ground below them started to glow in the same colour as her hand, and an instant later, dozens of fierce roots erupted from it, chasing and grabbing the feet of the men. Some of them fell painfully in the ground, some screamed in surprise and now they were desperately trying to rip the roots off their feet. She made the horse to avoid every single of them and jumped some in the ground, hurrying up at the gates that now were closing.

"Close the damn gate! He's going to escape!" one screamed, feeling relieved from being able of break free one of his feet, but screaming again at seeing how another root came out the ground to grab it again. "Damn these fucking roots! Watch out, he's a mage!"

The girl huffed in disgust at being confounded by a man. They didn't think a woman could escape from them so easily? The horse made perfectly out of the town. He didn't stopped running till they were far away enough to avoid both of them being caught by their chasers. The woman above him ordered the horse to stop; he listened. The road was desert when the woman jumped off; she moved away the hood, revealing a frustrated face. Lux screamed with impotence at anyone in particular, making sure to empty all wrong with her.

They now believe that she was a runaway killer?! This is what she was now?! She just couldn't live her life as how she wants without anyone meddling on it? Lux forced herself to stop. She grabbed her head and closed her eyes for a long time. She shouldn't be so upset; it was what it's supposed to happen, after all. She messed with the big guys and she wouldn't be running away without any consequence.

But it still was hard. She was used to be one of the most beloved people of Demacia. She was used at the falseness of everyone; she liked it or not. Being in the dark side felt wrong. But at the same time, she knew it was the right thing.

Tenebris pushed her slightly with his head, whining slightly to try to draw her attention to him. She irreparably smiled, rewarding him by petting his snout. She pouted as she stroked his soft skin.

"You shouldn't be with me… I only bring problems."

He neighed in disgust, shaking his big head. Lux laughed at him.

"Sometimes I ask myself if you can actually understand me," she confessed, frowning. "It's kinda weird."

Tenebris didn't make any sound of response. Lux furrowed her lips, but shook her head, erasing any thought of her head. She moved at his side and went up his back, making herself comfortable before picking up the rope and shaking it.

"We have to keep moving; we still have a long way to reach Noxus," she said tiredly, glancing at the Ironspike Mountains, not too far away from them. "Oh, this night will be _so_ cold…" she whispered, already shivering.

* * *

Infiltrate in Noxus never was so difficult.

The whole city was under red alert. The entries were strictly obstructed by dozens of guards, who checked thoroughly on every one who has to enter or exit, even making some to undress in order to avoid any big problem. The non-existent patrols in the outskirts of city now existed; every street, corner and public buildings were under the vigil. It would be completely impossible to just sneak in and to get to Noxus' military dock, not without her invisibility magic. Her fake appearance won't be enough to fool everyone there; she would be instantly recognized by her features. The so-dammed gossiped already made its job.

The funny thing is that it was completely her fault. After her little show in Shanti when she escaped from the authorities with Tenebris and using nature magic, it didn't take too long to their chasers to connect points and to figure out that it was her. Then, everything started to become a nightmare. The Real Guard and whoever else chasing her also took notes of the appearance of her horse. That kind of details that she even didn't know, like the small scar in his back, or the strange dark hair he was, which was way lighter than any horse she ever seen.

A big pain her heart remembered to her the decision she had to make. Having so many problems to get inside Noxus alone, she couldn't imagine what she would have to do with having Tenebris with her. She just couldn't do it. The best solution was to set free him in the best place she could ever think: the nature. She may come up with another solution if she has the time to do it, but she quite didn't have a single bit of it. She was being fenced; she didn't have any escape routes but Noxus. They managed to decipher that she was actually leading towards to the city. Lux hoped that they didn't know the rest of her plan or she will be screwed.

It still unnerved how well Tenebris took the goodbye. It wasn't easy to find a good meadow who gave her the enough amount of safeness to just drop him off on it, even with the possibility of anyone discovering her while doing it. But she forced her to do it nonetheless. After saying her last words to him, "I'll be back to pick you up fast as I can. Make sure to hide," he just whined at her as always and turned around to walk away into the paramo. That's when she confirmed that he actually understands her, every single word. She then felt better.

The absence of him made her to feel that loneliness she was used to have. But it would be too stupid of her to depress now, not when she was so close to get away. Alone, she was sure she can handle Noxus. After all, she wouldn't be Luxanna Crownguard if she hadn't an ace up in her sleeve.

Noxus was a city which was located in the very mountain. There wasn't any forest relatively close, so she made sure to store all nature magic as she can before leading towards it. Enter by the surface was discarded. But that wasn't how she managed to sneak inside Noxus' underground. Years ago, while the war between them and Demacia was fully active, she also faced a high security all over the place. She was ordered to _find_ another way in. Her answer was in front of her. She made her investigation long time ago of the whole city. She found contacts, people who betrayed their own homeland and even being paid some things in order to Lux get the most information as possible. Demacia didn't help her out, but it wasn't time to think about how stupid she was in that time. One of that information, the one who allowed her to enter, was a secret entry, kilometres away from the city itself. It was a secret passage that connected with the prison of the city, which was located in one of the extremes of Noxus. The possibility of facing the bad guys in the prison or even the passage didn't make her to back down. She hasn't further options; she prayed that luck was in her side again.

The dawn will appear soon.

She ran quickly in the almost steppe biome, ignoring the cold breeze and not paying attention at the dried trees around her. She stopped at almost three kilometres away from the city. Her eyes didn't glance at the enormous city right into the mountain at the West, but at the well-hidden entry of a small cave that connected with the mountain. Lux moved inside, narrowing her eyes thanks to the lack of light inside. She ran while tapping carefully the wall, noticing with some shivers the entire cobweb that covered almost the whole place. She finally stopped at the end of the cave, pretending to be a dead end. She strode, however, at the wall, getting down and tapping slightly the ground beneath it in a complicated pattern. The rock crumbled slightly after that; and she only has to push with a lot of force the rock down, making it to move and open just like a door. Lux stood up and stared at the hole, completely dark. She took a deep breath before holding her nose and jumping in it.

The abundance of darkness didn't suffocate her as the last time she was falling. She just sharpened her sight and prepared herself to land in water, hugging her bag and praying to any god she knew in order to it not gettting drenched. She turned her body upside down and lined up her arms and legs. After almost a full minute of falling, her eyes captured a faint light of torches at the end, making a wide path more visible as she fell. She repressed the need of throw up when she entered the green, stagnant waters of the prison. She fought the flow, which tried to take her outside, and instead she swim at the rock path in the middle of the repugnant. Her hands grabbed the edge as it was a lifesaver and she pulled her body up, rolling out of the water. She took seconds to shake her body, trying to remove all the dirtiness, hugging herself. She then was quickly in her feet again, turning around and facing how the rock path kept into a wall rock. She checked in her bag, feeling extremely relieved that not a single drop of water has entered in. Feeling confident, she ran, trying to not focus in all the pipes expulsing wastes, holding her nose tightly. She was glad that she still has her hair glowing green because the light from the torches were almost useless. The way was short; she quickly was in front of a heave-looking door, which obviously was closed. Reaching for her bag, she took out a black jimmy. A moment later, the door was history. A lot of stairs followed, making obvious that Lux was very deep in the earth. As she climbed each step, she remembered exactly the full map of the prison, not expecting it to be exactly as the last time, but hoping that it was the opposite. The deeper floor, the worst criminal you'll find. She wasn't exactly expecting a fight, because she was technically in a prison, so they would be restricted, but still she wouldn't be taking any chance. She would avoid everyone, get out of the prison and get a boat to Ionia without anyone noticing. It's what she used to do, but this time without having her light magic.

A couple of minute passed without her feeling any tiredness in her body because the adrenaline of the moment. Another door was blocking the exit; she dealt with it without any problem. Her hand opened the door and she was greeted by a dark, dirty hall. Noticing with relief that she was at the end of the hallway, just as she remembered, her head peeked carefully at the other side by the edge of the door. Nobody was there. She moved out of the stairs and closed silently the door. She expertly moved in silence at the first corner of the first hallway. She was in the fifth floor of the prison, the one who is reserved for the worst of Noxus. She didn't know exactly how anyone gets dumped down here, but you must be minimum a traitor.

Lux wasn't worried at all. The thought of walking in the wing staff didn't bother her in the slightest. After all, the League solicited (ordered) support from Noxus to help them out finding her. Who would ever think she was in the place they wanted her to be in? She didn't pay attention at the various doors that were connected with the hallway; she just kept running without any problem. After a couple of minutes, her ears finally captured voices coming from the distance. Lux slowed considerably and stopped at the edge of the wall. Beside her, there was the open entry to a small kitchen. Her senses sharpened as she paid attention at the guards who were talking.

"Would you please remember me again why we are here?" one of them said. Lux didn't miss the sound of keys coming from his belt. "This is bullshit! Why they can't find a single bitch running? They have practically the whole army behind her and still they can't find her! And we're payin' for it staying down here!"

"It sucks, man, I know, but we can't do anything," the other answered, drinking something from a big cup. She guessed that it was coffee. "You have to remember _that_ bitch was the one who entered this place like it was a walk in the park. NO one noticed her."

Lux's lips furrowed at the words towards her; she had enough. The words from their filthy mouths confirmed her assumptions she made minutes ago. If the prison was in lack of personal, then it's going be just like a walk in the park again. Raising slowly her hand, it started glowing slightly green. She focused intently and tried to not waste too much magic and also hide it. The floor behind the men started glowing green, too, but none of them noticed. She took her time as she listened.

"The warden wants us down here looking out for the prisoners," the same guy kept talking, this time moving aside her cup. "You forget what we have bounded. Or maybe you got scared, dude! Can't believe it! I thought you would want some fun!" he cried in a mocking tone.

"Shut up, fucker!" he screamed, taping slightly his ribs and letting out a small moan. "That fucking bitch stabbed me with a fucking dagger! Where did she get that?!"

As two roots came out from the floor and slowly started to move at their feet and start to move up through their legs just like a serpent, Lux's face contracted at the thoughts who threatened to appear in her head. But she ignored them, she didn't to lose focus.

A red-headed appeared in her mind, nonetheless.

"Well, she was restrained. How did she manage to do that? I dunno," he shrugged. "But she's hot as fuck; I'm gonna try later, you join me?"

"Sure thing, I gotta make her pay," he grumbled, not noticing how two pairs of root were covering his lower body just like his buddy.

Feeling completely disgusted by she just heard, Lux closed her hand with full force, without any hesitation. The roots crushed both bodies, making them to scream in surprise and pain, especially the wounded one. Lux moved quickly her hand at right, the root following her movements as it smashed both in the rock wall without any loud sound. They both fell down in the floor, unconscious. Lux moved off behind the wall and got in the kitchen, running at the one who's got the keys. She took them out from his belt, and moved her hand to order the root to retreat in the earth again. She stood up again and flipped out to run at the exit door, using the keys she's now got. Thankfully, all of them were marked with small symbols. She didn't waste further time guessing which one was from that door.

What came next was, obviously, another hallway. This time, it was perfectly lighted and significantly wider. Lux turned her head around and noticed how the hallway connected with a few ones, being way narrower than the principal. She moved silently, glancing at the various hallways. All of them weren't long enough to her sight to don't notice the end. Actually, all of them had heavy doors at the end, with a small window closed at the upper part. She noticed the magic coming from them, protective magic. There it's surely the place where the prisoners are. She didn't pay any attention; it was none of her business; and she hast yet four floors to climb.

She stopped frozen in her tracks as she almost reached the door that allowed her to use the elevator from the floor. She slowly backed off, her head moving and staring at one hallway, the only one who has the small window open. She walked at the end, reluctantly peeking through the window. What she saw made her lost her breath.

Despite being several meters away from her, Lux instantly recognized the silhouette of Katarina landing on the floor, her lower body harshly wounded, attached with black ropes and her arms restrained by two chains that were in the wall. Her head was facing the floor; she couldn't guess if she was awake or not.

"No, no, no…" she muffed in dread, shaking her head frantically. "This isn't supposed to happen!"

Her hand unconsciously reached the handle, taking it out almost instantly thanks to the electric feeling of hot magic running painfully around her hand in a flash. She sighed exasperatedly and almost broke her bag, looking for the keys again. Katarina was one of the most famous Noxus' assassin, title shared with Talon. She shouldn't be there; she should be…. killing someone. But in the prison? Why she has the feeling it was her fault? Why the world suddenly changes when she change too?

The horrible search from the key left as a result three red keys, actually. Her eyes scanned every single one and landed on the small one, which has a "K" in the opposite side of the cuts. It was an amazing thing how the key landed in the keyhole in speed record. She turned two times, took it out and tried again. The same spell reacted at her touch, rejecting her hand like a virus. She was starting to feel angry; she hasn't time to mess around. She waved her hand in front of the door, trying to use nature magic to get a reaction. She didn't have to wait too much; seconds later, an advanced structure of runes appeared.

Without thinking it more than a second, Lux scowled and expulsed a spout of nature magic into it from her hand. She fought the magic, trying to force the nature magic inside. Her magic quickly overpowered the other one and, one moment later, the door blew up in a bunch of giant roots, shattering it piece by piece. The girl managed to cover with her arms barely, stepping back just in time to avoid being smashed. After everything was landing harmlessly in the floor, she allowed herself to gaze at Katarina.

Her green eyes stare unnerved her. The red-haired woman was just looking at her in silence, like she was trying to decipher what was going on. Then, she started laughing slightly to herself, switching to her loud one a few moments later. She took her time, like she just saw one of the funniest things in her life. Lux waited patiently in the entry, fighting the need to tap her feet in the floor. When Katarina seemed to calm down, the blonde moved her legs and started to walk at her.

Only the reflexes she forcefully developed in military and all the missions she made allowed her to dodge with a somersault the dozens of knives that suddenly came right at her side. Lux landed perfectly in her feet, straightening her body and abruptly turning around her head at both walls from her side that were just meters away from her. She identified small holes in patters, probably the place where the knives came from. She almost questioned aloud about it when a small click echoed right above her. Her face seemed perked up at the speed of the light just in time to catch the sight of a giant blade quickly falling down and moving on its axis. She barely sidestepped it, and then another came, and another, and another. Her back smashed into the wall, the last blade passing just millimetres away from her nose.

One moment later, her mind yelled at her to move. Lux's gaze focused and noticed dozens of small devices appearing around all the room, excluding where Katarina was. The devices shone in red and they let out a fine and transparent red laser. She held her breath, already knowing what would happen next. She twisted her body almost in a funny way, trying desperately to avoid those lasers. A moment later, the red transparent thing became deep red, letting out a sharp sound. Lux held her breath at feeling the warm aura of the laser almost touching her skin somewhere in her back, feeling somewhat relieved that she didn't feel any pain. Five seconds went by, one of the most torturous of her life. The laser finally disappeared, allowing her to dump down in the floor and to breathe heavily, don't feeling physically tired but very hysterical.

She suddenly stood up, sending a fierce glance at Katarina, who was smirking at her like nothing happened.

"They really didn't want you escaping, right?" the blonde accused, walking the long way at the red-headed. She stopped in front of her, finally noticing more and more bruises around all her body, but she seemed to not mind at all. Katarina just kept smiling at her. "I.. uh, kinda feel it's my fault you're here. Am I right?" she asked slowly.

"Well, you certainly aren't stupid as you pretend." Katarina answered coolly. It unnerved Lux the appeased state of hers. "I never doubted it."

"Why are you here?" Lux spoke, almost demanding an answer. "I'm sure Noxus is pretty happy about you… doing your killing stuff. Well, at least some of your superiors. It just doesn't make any sense. What happened?"

Katarina furrowed her lips in an ironically smile.

"Curious…" she said. "You want to know what happened. Swain happened." It was her answer, making Lux to shot her a puzzled gaze. "He took advantage of the _incident_ long time ago, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

The mage cringed her body, feeling guilty flowing around her being. So she does that for herself and still she somewhat manages to mess up everything.

"He…"

"He tried to blame me for the steal," Katarina interrupted her, this time not smiling. Her gaze was completely focused in Lux's eyes. "I don't know _how_ the fuckhe did it, but he did it. So, with the support of the League, they dumped me in this fucking jail." She said venomously, narrowing her eyes. Lux didn't say anything. "But one day later, everyone was greeted by the big news: the little princess of Demacia had just run away from her home, abandoning in the altar none other than the very prince of Demacia."

"Uh, God…" Lux mumbled very embarrassed. She didn't like the thought of everyone knowing about her personal life more than now.

"So, with that, the League realized that someone like me would never be able to steal something from them. Only someone with enough magic skills would be able to do so. And _with help_. They dismissed me, but as you can see, I'm still here. It doesn't matters now."

Lux sighed, but she smiled a second later.

"You're right, it doesn't," Lux answered, crouching down at Katarina and breaking her free from the chains with the force of her magic. She only raised again another eyebrow at her in response. "Knowing you, you'll want revenge. I can't help out with that, but we both need to get out of here. It's the least I can do."

Katarina stared at her. Lux leaned back again in her foot at stared at her, too. They were silent for a second before an instant later, Katarina disappeared and appeared behind her with a dagger in her hand that seemed to appear from nowhere, pressed on Lux's neck.

"And what makes you think I'm not going to rip your head off, _sunshine?_ " she taunted, the creepy sound of her voice not scaring Lux at all.

Lux somewhat managed to sigh, before turning her head at her without any fear and shooting a tired gaze.

"Because you won't kill your lover's sister, right, Kat?" she answered with a tiny smile.

Katarina frowned hard, deeply. The dagger trembled for a second before being turned back reluctantly, safely away from Lux's body. The blonde stood up as so Katarina.

"I'm not going to kill you because of _that_ ," she hissed disagreeably, her voice sounding annoyed. "But because I need to get out of here. And I can't do it alone."

The mage smiled brightly, making Katarina to release a scowl.

"Awesome! We'll be such a great team!" she said dreamy. "Those bad guys won't stand us. They're barely something. We can totally sneak on them!"

"I think you should reconsider that, girl." Katarina said, blowing up the frenetic state from her companion. "Thanks to your little show with your… roots," she said slowly, this time taking note of her black hair and the glowing green. "They'll be here in any moment."

"…Right!" the blonde said ashamedly. Her mind wasn't in mission mode after all. She maybe got way too relaxed in her trip to Noxus, despite having half the word behind her. She was used to hide, after all, so that wasn't a big deal. "We should keep going," she said as she rushed at the exit, turning at the elevator.

"Hold on," Katarina was suddenly at her side, stopping her in her tracks. "I have something else to do," she said, her voice leaving nothing else to discuss.

Katarina unfolded two daggers and walked at the prison door that were in front of her jail, being followed by Lux's confused stared. They both stopped at the entry, silent. Lux waited a couple of seconds, expecting something great, but nothing happened.

"By the way, you smell horrible." Katarina's harsh commentary surprised her.

"I know," she said, sighing and trying to wash away the smell from her hood, noticing it for the first time here. "I had to use a sort of… alternative way to get there."

Katarina just smiled at her mockingly and shrugged. She finally moved at the entry of the jail door, with the blonde safely away from her. Her grab in the daggers tightened (making Lux's eyes narrow in suspiciously, still believing that Katarina was a mage in secret) and putted her body in fight stance. A second later, she whirled around incredibly fast, cutting everything in her way like butter. The door seemed to disintegrate behold the daggers, leaving behind tons of dust.

Katarina stopped and Lux approached, peeking through behind the red head's shoulders. A pair of seconds went by and the dust finally dispersed. Her mouth went wide open and she couldn't resist to cover it with both hands when her eyes connected with the person, specifically a guy, which was lying down in the floor just like Katarina minutes ago, almost completely naked, with just one drawer being the only thing in his body. Talon's steady eyes connected with both girls, taking a moment to analyse her before having a visual conversation with her sister.

"Uh… I guess he tried to take you out, but…" Lux said slowly, blinking in embarrassment, not used to see men like that. "I guess I would never understand you Noxus folks…"

Katarina only scowled at her words, trying to ignoring the ironic situation of her brother being treated horribly just as she treated other prisoners. She simply attached her daggers in her belt and ran gracefully at Talon. Just like before, tons of traps started to activate one by one. The blonde just enjoyed to show, watching how she dodged blades, darts, lasers, water traps, electrified tiles, guns shooting at her in crazy angles and more, still not knowing Talon has got more tramps than his sister. When Katarina finished after rolling on the floor to dodge a flamethrower, and standing up in front of Talon to break him free, Lux allowed herself to quickly run at both, taking out her hood and giving it to Talon.

"Here, you can use this to cover yourself," Lux said brightly, contracting amazingly at the current situation.

Talon gazed at her like she was a crazy.

"This smells shit," was his harsh, cold answer.

Lux snorted in annoyance, twirling the hood on him in purpose.

"Well, I guess you rather to move in the city with just those underpants, I got it, blade boy" she said sarcastically, missing the amused smirk of Katarina.

Talon scowled quite loudly and grabbed the hood reluctantly, standing up and putting it in his body in the process. Now only his lower legs were visible, excepting some parts of his torso.

"Well, I guess that should do…" Lux started to talk, but her words were suddenly interrupted by the sudden tremble of the whole building, everyone's ears registering a huge explosion coming from outside the room. Katarina throw two daggers at Talon to solve his lack of weapons, and Lux prepared her magic. She tried to not waste too much; she already has half of her reserves done.

"They're really late, don't you think?" Lux thought aloud, preparing herself and not sounding worried at all.

"Those idiots can't do things well on their own," Talon cold voice said, grabbing somewhat weirdly the daggers, not used at them. "It would be stupid of them if they think just a merely couple of guards can handle us."

"Enough of this, I want to stab someone!" Katarina screamed, snapping both of them out. Everyone paid attention at the floating dust coming from the open door, Lux coughing a little and again destroying the heated environment, and how five silhouettes coming out of it. With a disappointed pout, the red-headed discovered that they were merely simple guards and two mages. "Well, this is bullshit. Swain's stupid."

With a smile in her face, Lux saw one of the guards taking one step at them, trying to apparent confident and failing miserably. His gaze focused intently on the DuCouteau siblings and it completely ignored the third one beside them.

"You two, freeze!" he cried loudly, holding tightly an awkward heavy-sized spear and pointing it towards them.

Katarina smiled.

"What if I say no?" she taunted almost deliciously, twirling a dagger in her hand playfully.

"You..!"

"Hold up!"

The attention of everyone turned at the small guy wearing a blue robe, gaze focused on Lux.

"What the fuck do you want, heck?!" the spear dude cried, shooting a furious gaze and the mage and at the same time, somehow, staring back at the three fugitives.

"You…" he almost whispered, watching the dark-haired Lux with scared eyes. "…You are Lady Luxanna, don't you?"

She smiled back.

"And I think you are… Nigel, right?" She said, taking notice of his silver hair, barely visible thanks to his robes. "Long time no see."

"Hold a sec, that girl?! She's Demacia's fugitive?" one of the guards screamed, widening his eyes. "That…!"

His face went suddenly dead pale a second later, traumatized and painful. Guard's brown eyes gazed down at his chest, noticing a dagger perfectly impaled in his body's heart, blood coming out of the wound. One moment later, he fell at the floor with a sonorous 'thump', following him three dead bodies more.

Katarina smirked at Nigel, the only one who's got enough reflexes to rise up a small barrier to block the projectile she threw at everyone.

"Not bad, little mage." She laughed, with Talon shooting at her a tired gaze.

"You should have at least given them some time to say they last words; we could have got important information." He said, funnily scolding her.

"I agree with him, Kat." Lux said, making Katarina to snort bitterly.

"So what, I know everything I need," she said dismissively, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Why?"

The three of them were forcefully snapped out of their little conversation. They turned her stances at Nigel, his silver shaking gaze focused intently on Lux's

"Why did you do it, Miss Luxanna..?" he questioned, blinking. "Why did you run away? Why did you abandon Prince Jarvan?"

Lux breathed deeply, momentarily forgetting about Katarina and Talon. She closed her eyes for a moment and then smiled sweetly, brightly.

"I don't expect you to understand." Lux's voice broke on the last word. "It's something I had to do, and it's definitely not your business, at all. As so everybody else's." Her palm glowed green behind her back. "I'm sorry for this."

"Wha-?" he suddenly went shut when a root behind him knocked out hard in his neck, sending him straight to the floor unconscious.

Lux sighed tiredly, watching all the corps lying in the floor. She walked at Nigel and dragged him into the wall, putting him in a sat position. She then turned around and faced Katarina and Talon.

"We should have killed him, and you know it." Katarina said coolly, eyes narrowed.

"I couldn't kill him," the blonde said hopelessly, prying through her shoulder at the sleepy body of her old summoner. "He hasn't done anything wrong. He's way _too_ similar with me. Also he won't remember anything, I made sure of that."

Katarina snorted, but she didn't say anything anyways. Lux beckoned Talon the came closer as walked to one of the guards in the floor, getting down and pointing at it with her finger.

"Look, I think those clothes will fit in your body, don't you think?" she said in a poor attempt to change the topic.

"Whatever."

Talon strode at one of the dead men and took out his pants and boots, taking out the blonde's cape momentarily. Lux quickly looked away from him, still embarrassed. When he finished, Katarina was in their sides, seeming very impatient.

"Now let's get out from here at once, damn!" she hissed, moving at the door and not waiting for them to come.

Lux smiled and stood up, running after her with Talon behind her. After passing by the exit room, they found out that the explosion took out with it the elevator as well.

"The elevator's gone?" Lux complained aloud dramatically, not wanting to think about stairs.

"Shut it down and move." Katarina barked as she and Talon ran at the stairs.

"Alright, alright!" The blonde replied, moving as well.

Ignoring the elevator, everyone went through the stairs beside it.

"We have almost two hours before dawn drawn appears. We need to get out before the patrol finds that two prisoners have escaped." Lux said systematically, turning her body in a 90 degree to keep rushing to another set up stairs. The DuCoteau glared at her. "Hehe, well, it was like that when I came years ago…"

Silence answered her; Lux felt dumb for saying the obvious, but she recovered up in no time. The last stair was done and they broke in silently into the fourth floor, a place when horrific people were, but not _that_ bad like Katarina and Talon. (How's that possible?) She laughed silently, and she next felt bad for joking around with something like that.

The blonde one managed to convince Katarina to try to not kill anyone who walks into them. They didn't need more bodies to hide. The jails in there were not as secured as the other ones because the prisoners didn't were so dangerous and the upper ones. They can't just make appear a dagger or move expertly in the walls and stab you with blades everywhere. Instead of jail doors, were hard-looking sliding doors with a small hole enough to pass in some food and with a small sliding window to see inside.

The trio moved away from the stairs door, with Lux leading the group. They stopped at the intersection of the jail-hallway and two more, which she already knew one of them leaded towards the offices and kitchen while the other towards showers.

Katarina glowed impatient, remembering her that she needs to keep on. She peeked at the right hallway, immediately catching the sight of two guards moving at the other side of it, backs opposite at them.

"Alright, I'll catch them and you knock them out, understood?" she said, raising her hand and twirling it.

An impatient huff made her to know that Katarina listened and that Talon was silent, no surprise. Lux focused in her nature magic and she breathed deeply. It was harder to summon her roots because fourth floor is not connected directly at earth as the fifth one. It took her a huge amount of time, in her point of view, to make the floor green in order to allow a green root to come out. The root quickly moved towards the unaware men, and in a second, it grabbed both of them by their ankles.

"What the-"

Katarina and Talon were behind them by the moment they noticed they were being attacked. Talon opted to simply punch hard in the other one's neck, while Katarina, true to herself, stabbed the other one directly into his heart. Both bodies hit the floor almost silently.

"Katty-Katty Kat!" Lux silently cried, rushing at them in funny tiptoes, almost choking in her own laugh at seeing Katarina's face upon hearing her nickname. "We're supposed to not kill anyone! You promised it!"

"WHAT the fuck was that?!" the red-headed roared dangerously, aiming for one dagger from nowhere and tossing it at Lux with an amazing speed.

Lux quickly moved out the way, watching with astonished eyes at Katarina and then at the dagger which was nailed deeply in the wall.

"Heavens, you could have killed me!" she said with wide mouth. "You're so bad with me! I thought we could be friends."

"Shut the fuck up if you don't want to be sliced." She warned, turning around. She didn't expected Talon laughing silently, hiding his face behind his hand. "WHAT are you laughing at, little cute brother?" she hissed, taking one step at him and smiling playfully. "This amuses you?"

"I don't…" he tried to say, making an amazing effort to erase the smile in his face.

Watching someone teasing Katarina with such careless doesn't happens every day.

"Well, you better watch you back-"

"Who the hell are you?!"

For what seemed the hundredth time in the day, the trio snapped out from their little fight. Lux stopped chuckling and her gaze connected with a dozens of guards standing in the other side of the hallway in a battle stance. Talon sighed.

"Looks like we weren't silent enough." The blonde said.

"This is not over," Katarina spoke deadly, taking two daggers in both her hands. "Let's finish this already."

* * *

As they went by each floor, the apprehension in Lux's heart only went bigger and bigger. The fourth floor probed that was completely impossible to escape the prison without killing anyone. There were way too many guards to stop one by one and spare them, or at least that what she keeps saying herself. Otherwise she would become insane. So she tried to smile as always.

Fifth floor were a short blessing to her, and she knew it. It may didn't look like the safest prison because yes, they three escaped with such an easiness that made it look like kids games, but that floor has got enough protections to handle and reduce any kind of prisoner. They just didn't expect someone sneaking in by a super-secret entry, not quite. It would be such a waste to put many guards as the other floors because they won't we needed… at least now.

She was supposed to stay away with that kind of stuff, because it's what Demacia forced into herself, but the passage through the next four floors probed to Lux that she was never going to walk away of it. Talon noticed how she tried to only knock out as many people as possible, not doing more than a single necessary blow where it was needed. She was sure by the wait he shot at her glances sometimes. He also didn't seem very comfortable killing with Katarina's daggers, which she assumed was because he quite rather his old blades, so he decided to try to do the same. In the other side, Katarina was having the day of her life, completing forgetting what just happened. After being deprived for slicing someone for so long, she was making sure to stab as many as she could.

The astonished stares of some prisoners unnerved the hell out of her. She wasn't there for being judged, even for those people. Some of them tried to escape at seeing the giant mess they were doing, like an opportunity. They swept away with every single guard; mage and any unfortunate one who choose to get on the way. No one prisoner made a successful break out, Katarina made sure of that, as if she almost knew every single one of them and what they made.

They almost got caught, twice. Well, Katarina and Talon didn't notice, but Lux did. They did were silent while moving and killing people, but the problem were the mages. Almost none of them were in high level such as Lux or some champions, nowhere close. She thanked that, because if it weren't for that, they would be already sending strenuous messages to the Institute of War asking for help. The blonde was quick enough to shut down those with the help with her magic.

She almost didn't believe that they've slain more than a hundred of people in just one hour. It was animal, sadistic. The prison was enormous. Almost all the hallways were made of tons and tons of jails. Each one of them was about one kilometre long, and they conformed an endless labyrinthine of paths, and endless sea of prisoners and guards. Fifth floor were almost minimalistic, but it wasn't the same history for the other ones.

Her head hurt when she questioned herself how she came up with memorizing every single corner of the place. She almost couldn't believe it, but back in that time she was… dedicated. Now it served for a purpose that she chose, at least.

And now, three floors later, the last and upper one was just as small as the fifth one, but different. It was merely the main entry of the prison. They emerged from a hole with stairs. The way out was blocked up by a giant portcullis and it followed a dirt path and another stone wall which was connected to the reception and the main entry. The place was very well illuminated thanks to some torches in the wall, but it lacked of guards as well. Lux, repressed the feeling to took out her boots and feel the dirt with her feet, found herself sensing strange vibrations coming from the all the ground around her, even from outside. Realization hit her an instant later, forcing her to let out a silent, but pitched shriek of excitement.

Katarina was already throwing daggers with her eyes at her.

"Would you shut up?" she hissed, moving out the stairs and walking without care in the world at the big double lever beside the portcullis with Talon following her. Each one grabbed one handle and started to push it. Lux smiled, already forgetting what just happened behind her and moved as well to their sides.

" _Jass, Manh?! Are you two?_ " a male voice sounded from the other side through the door hole of the reception. Talon shot a Katarina a warning glance but she dismissed him with a snort; they kept on. " _Uh, I thought I was clear before! We have strict orders to keep an eye down there! No one else will be here; it's impossible!_ "

"We should be thankful that this whole thing of tons of guards in one place on none of them in another was… convenient," Lux muttered, focusing in the vibrations of the other side. She could sense some footsteps and a chair moving. "No one else is in the other room as far I can tell." Katarina glanced at her just one second.

The lever kept rolling. Seconds later, Katarina and Talon stopped suddenly when a loud click echoed through the place, the portcullis already being at the top of the wall. Lux stared for some moments at the spikes at the end of every piece of iron.

"That pathetic idiot…" Talon said with contempt, narrowing his eyes. Lux has got to give him some credit, though. She also didn't believe the negligence of the man.

The blonde sighed. Now it was her turn. With some misgiving, she allowed her nature magic to glow green in the dirt and summon a root that silently moved out the room through the reception. She tried to not focus in her low reserves and instead she told the root to take care of the only guy left. A sharp blow later, another body fell into the ground.

The trio moved through the shadows, making sure to not show themselves to outside. The reception was empty and silent. Lux examined it. The place was surrounded by darkness, only momentarily lightened by random lights coming from outside. The desk was brown dark and very tall; the man being easily found, laying above it. She walked to him, effectively checking that he was very unconscious. Maybe she hit too hard? Her eyes moved at the sunglasses that were on the corner. She grabbed it and opened it, reaching to the guy's sleepy face, and she accommodated the sunglasses on him and pushed the guy back to the chair.

"Now it looks like he's got a big razzle with his friends," she said. Talon t'ched in response while Katarina shot at her a piercing glare. She smiled in response. "So where you guys going?" she asked quietly, turning around.

Katarina went silent for a moment, apparently thinking about her answer. Talon kept his mouth shout, waiting for his sister to answer.

"There's still… something to take care here in Noxus," she finally said, her words blank.

Talon kept wondering how Katarina seemed to act extremely different how she used to be around Lux. Maybe it was something the blonde did to her, as so him. Did to everyone.

"So it looks like you and Talon will stick around, uh…" she responded quietly, slowly. "I guess it's not any harm to tell you that I'm going to Ionia. Maybe you could visit me. After all, it's obvious you won't be standing in Noxus anymore." She offered kindly, moving gracefully to the main doors, her magic already telling that no one was close around to catch her in sight. "It would be nice to see you again, Kat. You too, Talon." She opened the double doors, managing to do it without it not making any shriek sound. She stopped for a moment. "I guess this is the goodbye. Farewell!"

And with that, Lux vanished into the darkness of the night in Noxus.

Katarina stared into the place Lux was for a moment. She allowed the tiniest of smiles show in her lips, a real one. Talon didn't miss it.

"Didn't know that you two were so friends." His voice snapped her out harshly, forcing her to gaze at him.

"We don't," she said dismissively, walking to the exit as well. Talon followed.

"It didn't look like that. At all." He answered coldly, not liking to being lied. "Would you stop being so pathetic? When did this happen?"

Katarina stopped in her tracks, her body tensing deadly. The man stopped as well, preparing himself to any kind of attack from the read-headed. He waited, but nothing happened.

"I don't know, it just… happened," she muttered, surprising her sibling. "When she… found out about Garen and me she never stopped trying to get along with me. She was nowhere near to quit. I almost stab her twice. But she kept calling me family, that I…" her mouth froze, her words died in her throat.

Feeling that someone was getting closer, she just closed her mouth and disappeared in a red flash right into a house roof. Talon sighed, never thinking how troubled her sister was. He disappeared as well behind her.

Maybe it was time to work on that.

* * *

Noxus' dock was actually quite far away from her. The prison was in the opposite side of the city given the direction of it, so she found herself having to run for more than fifteen minutes in order to even approach to the mountain side of the city.

Despite not having with her anymore her invisibility spell, she got by quite well with her normal stealth abilities. As she thought, the patrols were doubled on everywhere. Every corner, street, roof, alley was now under active patrol. She was nowhere safe. She was in a constant presence of

The whole situation made the girl to ask herself how she and the DuCoteau siblings broke free from the prison, and yet the answer was obvious to her. Maybe what she needed now is pure force, just like they used in that place before, but now that only would attract attention she doesn't need. She was close, she couldn't mess things up now.

Her new acquired ability to sense vibrations from earth comes in handy. She would never be able to move between so many guards without being caught if she hasn't the cool trick of sense where they currently are. Her new best friend was now darkness, ironically, because now she had to hide in it instead light. She sneaked through the houses, never quitting moving and hiding. After walk away from the prison, her objective was now the double tunnels that connected the side of the mountain she currently was. The big problem it was those tunnels were horribly close to the Main Palace and the Grand General's quarters. She could sense waves and waves of vibrations made of footsteps coming from the mountain, specifically from were those buildings were located.

Passing by the dark neighbourhoods was relatively easy. Despite that every street was under patrol operations, she already knew Noxian soldiers didn't stood out thanks to its… intelligence. They were more about fighting and killing their enemies. Demacia wasn't far away from it either, but they were more… acquainted in that aspect.

Things started to get more difficult at the point when she started to be near the tunnels. She will be wandering into lion's den.

She almost let out a small yelp of surprise from her hiding spot at seeing a squad of guards running down the street to, if she could recall well, the rich zone of the city. Then the words of Katarina popped up into her mind, making her to blink.

" _Maybe she…_ "she stop thinking abruptly, frowning at herself for thinking such a thing. " _No, that's impossible._ "

Either way, whatever it's happening down streets did help her out a lot. With the way now out of guards, Lux passed by the last house and run silently at the shadows of the wall out of the cross. This was the only open space she could be found, if there were someone to do it. She should thank the red-headed later.

As she made her way through the stone path to the right tunnel, the lack of nature magic in her body ironically fuelled the vibrations she was receiving from the mountain. Her gaze went up for a moment, analysing the giant quarters building that were inlaid high in the mountain. From there, she could sense vibrations from inside, and the inner stairs that connected it to outside. Some people were running at her direction.

Not wanting to get discovered, Lux finally crossed the narrow path at the other side of the mountain, hiding herself as so her magic. She could almost feel how light magic tried to grasp her magic core, almost desperately. She felt bad. She did miss her light magic, too.

The other side of the mountain was like a different world. Despite being almost completely constructed underground, Noxus doesn't forget about the surface side. After all, it is where some of the most important buildings were. But for some reason, the other side was, unlike its opposite counterpart, forgotten. The place was being occupied by mostly poor people and those who were qualified as weak. It was like that part of any city you don't want to be.

Her eyes caught the sight of the dock at the distance; just a kilometre or so away after the tall, fortified wall and the huge hole that surrounded the entire city. Her feet started to move one more time, this time running significantly faster than before. She couldn't feel so many guards in that zone as the other side, but despite that, the place lacked of big buildings, alleys or any place you could think to hide of. Lux didn't allow herself to lose hope.

She quickly left behind the tunnel and trotted out the stone path, right into a big-shaped and convenient tree near of the entry. As her back leaned on the tree, her mind quickly deciphered the patters of the patrols, and it came up with a plan of advance.

" _ **Good plan.**_ _"_

Lux's head never straightened up so fast. She instantly gazed all around herself, expecting someone glaring at her with a sarcastic expression and a mocking smile. No one else was near her; the closest one being one hundred meters away. She turned her head around, facing the three she was hiding at for no apparent reason.

" _Am I going crazy or the tree just…?_ "

She stared at the dark brown wood, challenging it to speak again. But as always, nothing happened.

" _Grandma always said that plants spoke to her… She…"_

She cut off all distracting thought right away. If she was going crazy then it will be outside and safe of Noxus. Lux then braked away from the haunting presence of the three and hiked exceptionally fast in the direction of the massive hole. She didn't pay attention at the obvious path that were designed to one follow it and instead she tried her best to avoid being sighted. That path leaded towards one of the few entries of the city, and that would mean it's going to be terribly guarded. She would have to do something crazy.

Lux suddenly was just a kilometre away of the fortified wall. She saw with apprehension the big spikes that the wall showed off proudly and a so the shapes of all the people above, moving and don't losing any detail. The dozens of light beacons coming out from the watchtowers distributed symmetrically. She never thought she would be afraid of light.

She took her time to relax into the oddly and welcoming feeling of the darkness, thanks to the wall of a precarious house. So she closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and tried to smile.

" _Impossible."_ Her mind shouted at her, punching hard her hopes. She sighed. Indeed, it was completely impossible pass through that barrier. Lux figured out that she depended too much in her invisibility spell, but who could blame her? It was extremely useful.

Then, out of the blue, she remembered the exact day in the Magic Academy, that day when she almost got herself out of sanity. Mrs Minerva found her and she…

" _When everything seems impossible, even by the means of logic, you need to do something crazy."_

…said that. Well, it isn't like she has another option. She just will turn off her mind for a moment…

Sighing deeply, Lux turned her head around, staring intently at the two doors in the ground, the cellar doors from the house. For what she was going to do it was needed some tools… or everything she could get by with it. She rolled off the dark corner, always silent, and crawled at the entry. She grabbed the knob with hope, expecting it to be closed, but proving herself a moment later that it wasn't. The blonde slowly opened the wood, making it aside and making appear tiny stairs.

It's the lowest of the lowest to steal from someone who was in need, but she hasn't any option left. To try to use her magic nature would be suicidal; she barely has any left. She needed to save it for an emergency; and if this wasn't one, she didn't want to think what it could be.

She jumped in, trying her best to not make any loud sound. A couple of steps were enough to reach the end. She pressed the small button from the switch at her right side, allowing the room to lighten up. She looked around, noticing that the room wasn't that empty as she thought. There was a small, red carpet at the centre, with a tools table in front of it. She walked, avoiding the bunch of boxes in front of the stairs and paid attention at the old and broken objects that were abandoned next to the table. Losing interest, she instead strode at the tools table, picking up two stakes. She tested them for a couple of seconds, noticing that effectively both were in a good state and in standby. She also found out that none of them were covered in something such like blood or so. She smiled brightly, this time way more confident than before. It was time to test her luck again.

Lux saved the two stakes in her bag and quickly fled away, moving at the stairs and climbing them, making sure to close the door behind her silently. She crawled again to her hiding spot and waited patiently. The light number one passed, and fifteen seconds later it did the light number six. The mage prepared herself, her body tensing. When the third light passed right in front of her, barely not touching her, she stormed out crazily from her spot. She run as fast as her legs allowed.

That kilometre felt like when she was six and she used to sneak into her grandmother's room to gossip about the entire Demacia and to practice her abilities with piano. That time when her mother had for some reason a strong dislike for her own mother. So much so that she always dragged Lux away from her with the excuse she "needed to study". But now, her grandma was her freedom and those lights and prying eyes were like a thousand of Lilias chasing her.

When she was about fifty meters away from the massive wall, pain in legs already ignored, she quickly unzipped her brown bag and took out the two stakes. She ran like a mental, jumping as far as she could on the wall, avoiding one big spike, and nailed the two stakes in the stone. She found with satisfaction that it didn't oppose at all. An instant later, her feet found a small surface that was deformed thanks to the ages to lean in. She then started to climb the fifteen and endless meters up.

Despite being constructed to give and horrendous death to those unfortunate who were unlucky enough to fall in, the spikes were actually helping her out to hide. One beacon light darted across the wall, dangerously near her. Lux, in the fourth meter, yelped and forced her body to twist uncomfortably in the correct angle to cover her barely. The light went above the spike, not revealing anything than just the normal wall. She sighed and got back again in her normal state. She re-nailed the stakes again and climbed one meter more. She swayed towards it four a couple of seconds and jumped on in, right above. Having just ten seconds of safeness before the next light, Lux shook her body, trying to undo the tiredness in her muscles. She cursed herself for not being in a fit state again. She was just being like all those stereotypes about mages!

The blonde repeated the process for what it seemed over and over and over. Approaching the end of the wall, Lux almost hugged the last spike with both arms. She managed to insert her body over it, relaxing just a couple of seconds because she was safe of any light for now. She looked up, trying to straighten her body as much as she could, always making sure to stick on the stone wall. There were two small deformations coming out of the wall that were wide enough to cover her small figure, one above the other. She looked up, paying attention to the vibrations she was feeling, absently saving the stakes on her bag again.

The sudden rays coming out from the horizon made the silent night, day. She felt her heart rate pumping up in her capillaries, almost making her to lose the uncomfortable position of her feet of the concave surface. She waited for a couple of seconds, finding out the correct timing to keep on. She heard footsteps moving above herself, walking in her direction and passing by her without noticing her presence. Lux then quickly got to it, flipping around and grabbing the first deformation with her fingers. She didn't know where she found enough strength to pull herself up, but she did it anyways, rising after her left leg and then following it the other one. She trembled just a bit before slowly stand up, trying to grab the stone bricks of her back. Now between the two deformations, Lux waited again.

The sun was slowly revealing itself, and Lux was going nuts thanks to it. Feeling the vibrations of some wooden crates (she didn't know how she actually knew it was wooden crates), she slowly side across the harsh bricks with her feet. When the patrol reset itself again, she quickly grabbed the edge with her slim fingers and her face twisted as she pulled herself upwards again. Her legs quickly helped her out to stand in the edge. She then jumped the thick wall left and rolled in, falling painfully behind the wood crates but silently. She managed to get half her body on her bag, easing some pain. Lux quickly adapted to her new hiding spot, sitting down in her butt and peeking through some of the edges at what she was interested. She felt a little nervous when a second later, a two guards passed by. She held her breath and prayed to all gods she knew. None of them noticed her, they just kept walking.

She leaned her head in relief into the wood, sighing. Her mind came up with all patrol's movements in an instant as she furrowed her lips, attempting to think a plan of action. Her eyes focused in what will be her get out of jail free card: the watchtower number three. She was completely sure that there was a small trapdoor inside, which leaded towards a small and somewhat hidden stairs, stairs that connected to one of the principal bridges of the city, stairs that had narrow walls covering it… But what she was exactly thinking about was that small, unnoticed window that was in _that_ wall. She couldn't just walk by the bridge, so she would need to pass right above it, using the giant chains holding it. How did she know about that window? She attributed to her obsessive craziness long time ago, when she used to remember everything in order to "make the most perfect mission ever," as how she liked to call it.

Now that craziness was paying off, so she needed to take advantage of it. The blonde gazed with some impatience at another couple of guards coming by; to the watchtower number five that currently was watching her zone and the sun rising up. None of them will be in her book all right, specially the sun, which would hinder her escape with its… light. Her mind stopped for a second, realizing what she just thought. She shrugged.

Finally, the way was open. The watchtower number three was lightening up a random place she didn't care, but what she did care is that whoever was doing it, its back was facing the door entrance. That person won't see her get inside.

The mage grabbed her bag again, still feeling dumb about how she can forget about it, and putted on her shoulder. She waited patiently one more time, counting the amount of meters she was away from the door, and finding some poor entertainment in the torch light that were beside it. When she saw the last guy of the patrol to reset passing by and stopping at the other side of the rampart, apparently looking at the outsides of the city, she instantly was on her food, running silently at him. She did a cool ninja move (as how she saw doing Zed and Shen dozens of times) to knock him out punching on his neck. The guy let out a small cry of surprise before falling into her arms almost peacefully. She dragged him behind the wooden crates and quickly threw him, hiding the evidence.

She then gasped dramatically and turned around, running quickly at the watchtower number three. She tried to open the wooden door as silently as she can, but she only has two seconds left before the next group coming by, so she just stormed in somewhat "silently" and prepared herself, expecting some challenge.

When she expected a hard-looking guard turning around and facing her with a battle stance, she found a small and slim guy napping in one old chair, right beside the beacon. Lux felt suddenly very angry. They were supposed to be protecting the city. Yes, she was sounding extremely idiotic, but what it would be of everyone if everything goes wrong because this guy?

" _Idiot, idiot! What I'm even thinking?! This guy was supposed to keep an eye for me!"_

Still, because she wasn't taking any chance. She strode at him and punched hard in the nerve of the clavicle. His face contorted almost funnily before falling on the ground. The blonde sighed heavily, feeling relieved that none noticed her getting in, and flipped around, moving at the trapdoor and opening it quietly. She crutched down and lowered her feet first, putting them in the second wooden bar of the ladder. She started to descend over it, stopping briefly to close the trapdoor again.

She then tried slide over both edges as she saw in a movie when kid, but when her left foot almost twisted, she decided she would try it later. With an irritated expression in her face, she tried to go down at the speed of the light, the faint light coming out from the watchtower slowly disappearing. The area was illuminated as she descended again into the stone floor, now the path being visible tanks to a line of torches in the wall. She turned around and ran out the narrow hallway. Just after a couple of meters, she saw the small window at the distance, just as she remembered it. Lux almost smashed herself on it, extremely eager. As she opened it, the girl didn't pay attention at the down stairs at her left side. Those were supposed to be an exclusive way to the bridge, for guards only, so what she would expect if she just walks by? A warm welcoming? In a utopic word, of course.

She moved away the damn glass, making some light to come in, contrasting terribly with the strange inside. She raised her right leg first, turning her body ninety degrees. When she was about to keep going, she felt something down in her chest. She looked down and gasped in shock. Her boob was on the way, it simply refused to move through the small aperture.

Lux didn't know if she should feel good or not. Her mind instantly told her that she was being stupid, that such a banal topic hasn't nothing to do with her and the situation she was currently going on… but she smiled nonetheless, very satisfied. She wasn't that type of girl who takes it seriously, especially because she would never be with someone in THAT way. Imagine herself being touched by someone gives her creeps. Also she… she… didn't know why she was still thinking about this.

Resisting the urge to punch herself, she gazed outside through the window, leaning her right left in the row of bricks that were stick out of the exterior rampart. She pressed both her boobs against her chest in order to pass through the small space, and her left legs followed. She grabbed tightly the edge of the window and turned around, landing slowly her other leg. She was below of the level of the bridge, in another pair of deformations as before. Lux couldn't help but watch the pitch darkness of the endless hole below her. It felt like the whole thing was pulling her down, trying to surround her forever.

She pated her head a couple of times, washing away the weird feeling. It kept happening since she isol-a-t-e-d herself about not using light magic. She didn't pay any attention, though. She would never let darkness consume her.

Straightening her head up, she took a deep breath and started moving through the narrow path. She focused in the vibrations coming from the bridge, identifying every single presence over her. Lux advanced fast some meters, putting her almost right below the bridge. Two parallels, giant chains came out from the brick wall, connecting to the first edge of the bridge, following a semi-circular path to cover a bunch of wood, and then descending just a little across the rest of it above the hole and repeating the same thing with the other side.

She ducked just a little to avoid hit her head with the hard metal, moving to the other side of it and already thinking how she would get by through it. The vibrations coming from upside didn't notice the blonde head sneaking below. Lux reached up to one of the chain's links, but the fact that her arms' length weren't long enough smashed her painfully. Hesitation showed in her face, making her to glance down again. Death was just this close to her, and a bad move will end everything. It would be painful? Quite the opposite. She won't feel anything; it'll just end in an instant.

But… She'd rather die than rot in the bottom of Demacia's prison, that's for sure. She smiled to herself and jumped. She grabbed the chain just in time. Her body stuck at it like a koala at its bamboo. She had to put some force in her neck because she was upside down; now the sight of the hole unnerved her more. She twirled around it to be up it.

Now, she slowly and with a scared face, advanced, hugged at the chain. She grabbed another chain link and dragged the rest of her body to it, still aware of what was below. As she hit the end of the semi-circle, something two odd things started to happen. She suddenly was flooded by two groups of vibrations, one larger than the other. The first one came from the city, especially around the zone of the prison. She didn't have to give it too much thought because she already knew that they found out the mess she did with the DuCouteau siblings; she had to hurry up before the alarm strikes. She already was at the beginning of the other semi-circle when she thought about the second one; it was just a vibration bigger than the small ones she was used to feel, it wasn't like someone's steps or an object falling in the ground. It felt like…

" _A horse?_ " she answered herself, turning around just enough to raise her leg, stretch it and hold it into the last chain. She moved her arm and grabbed tightly the other chain as well, and after some instants of preparation, she pushed herself at the other side, barely landing on it. But her mind didn't seem to pay it any thought. " _...dragging something?_ "

As she turned around again to keep moving, the vibration suddenly came up in a sound of effectively a horse trotting, obviously not her Tenebris because she somehow knew that it wasn't him, moving a carriage at Noxus' entry. She didn't know why someone would even try to get into the city knowing the delicate situation (everyone knew about the fugitive, right?), but it come in handy just in time.

As she faced the smooth wall of the hole and started to climb at the top of the chain, the carriage considerably lowered its speed to attend guards' interrogation, Lux supposed.

"Stop!" she heard one of the men, feeling him walking at the now immobile carriage. Her ears were always perked up when she nailed her fingers in the top link of the chain, analysing the hard wood above her. Incredible long timbers shaped the wood, accommodated in rows, but the lower ones had small space between them of separation. So the blonde just had to push her limits (braveness) to stand up and grab them. She tried to imagine it as when she was kid and played with the monkey bars, listening to the conversation as well.

"…so he was right, uh? Good thing it worked out. Better get inside with that thing." Lux, arms hanged out and grasping wood and moving, frowned. She dammed her head voice for not allowing her to hear properly. It was obvious there was something important in that carriage and she'll deduce that whatever the thing is, it wasn't supposed to be brought by such a careless way. "OPEN IT!"

Lux's eyes snapped open as she heard the portcullis quickly opening and the carriage moving again. She neared the end of the wood, and she almost prepared herself climb the vertical part when an extremely loud alarm exploded inside everyone's ears. The mage flipped out and forced her arms to work at double speed.

"What?! What the fuck?!" Someone said alarmingly. "The alarm…! CLOSE THE DOOR, CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR!"

Lux's hand smashed against the horizontal hard wood again, but this time the gravity wasn't trying to kill her… directly. She repressed painful groan and she covered the small to-do climb she yet hadn't done. The millisecond lying in the bridge was enough to give her the energy to stand up and not test her luck. She ran as fast as she can, completely used to it.

She did want to no one see her, but it seemed that Noxus' guards weren't stupid enough this time.

"HEY, YOU, STOP!" Someone screamed from above, probably on the rampart. Who else would be stupid enough to stop? Not her.

Lux actually had to move out of the way because she almost smashed directly into a tree. Barely acknowledging she was so out of herself that she even didn't notice that exact border of Noxus had trees in there, making a weird sight of a temperate forest; the girl did not wasted any further time in nothing but running.

The same guard who screamed at her t'ched in disgust and quickly turned around, drawing the attention of some men, which waited for orders. It was her, he was fully sure; Swain ordered everyone to memorize all the pictures, draws, features, EVERYTHING they knew about her: every single military man, and the whole city for some reason. Noxus hasn't anything to do with that girl, but it did matter to Swain, so it has to matters to him.

"Cortez! Call the quarters and inform that we may have that damn fugitive the League has been looking for; and make sure to tell them they have to inform General Swain as well, understood?. The rest of the squad, FOLLOW ME!" he spoke aloud sternly, leaving nothing to discuss as he moved to one of the watchtowers.

"Yes, sir!"

Panic showed in Lux's face, already feeling dozens of vibrations chasing her. She hiked through the woods expertly, watching at the distance the dock. She could already feel how the people in there were mobilizing as well, fact proved because the tall bars surrounding all of it. The dock wasn't exactly how big someone could imagine as a "Military Dock" properly said, but it served Noxus' purpose of satisfying that need to… kill people and show off some strength. They had to keep an image, especially with those pirates of Bilgerwaters.

It was in the middle of the forest when she noticed how slowly her magic core started to absorb nature magic around, allowing appearing some glimpses of green sparks around her hair. But as soon it started, it stopped, as if the magic around her depleted completely. This is when she noticed that something with Noxus was _really, really_ wrong. Its magic… she felt a feeling similar with sorrow, out of blue.

But she couldn't distract herself any more with it. Despite the strange episode, she did keep the magic inside. It felt like a boost of energy and tranquillity. The rest of the way at the armed forces' base she managed to keep herself under control. The trees around her protected her now.

Her mind didn't register how much time passed since she ran away, but all she knew the sun was fully visible, still on the edge of the world, and that she was now in front of the base, hiding behind a tree.

Her mind connected with the world again and now it was fully aware in which situation she was in. So she came up with the best thing she could do: think of a plan.

Noxus' army dock was way bigger when you saw it closer. Noxus betrayed its culture (she laughed to herself) and decided to construct more than half the thing on water. The entry, some dozens of meters away from her, were made out of, first, a big, dark gate which had double bars that secured it and closed both sides. Behind there was a small building that served to check on everyone who pass through the gate. It seemed like the lack of personal hit there as well, but Lux was sure that those bars were electrified, and it wasn't easy to climb those five meters long, and adding up on that there were obviously vigilance. Oh, how she missed her light magic… Her hand twitched; her brain stopping it by remembering her that she also had mages behind her ass, also chasing her. She sighed unhappily.

The rest of the base was built on maritime platforms. Every one of them was about one meter above the water, and they were long enough to occupy a good kilometre from the coast to the open sea. The main building was right after the entry, just a couple of meters away, while the rest of the base were made out of deposits, barracks where the soldiers live, of course watchtowers way more advanced than the simply rocky ones from the rampart and security cameras everywhere.

Her objective was a boat powerful enough to take her through the hundreds of kilometres to Ionia. Her original plan was to just find someone who had its own boat and pay some money to give a ride to Ionia. That little, hopeful plan was quickly shut down when the next day after escaped, the Institute of War itself made a shout out to inform, well, everyone. And of course it has to be a reward for her capture, to those who weren't under the League's control.

Now, recalculating everything, she concluded she has any chance to make it. Well, not without magic, but she did grabbed some in the strange forest. She thanked Noxus hadn't chopped out all of it, for some reason. Lux didn't want to think about it.

Her brilliant idea was to enter make herself a way in through earth. Any attempt of surface will result on her being immediately sighted and, consequently, captured. Another day in which magic saves her butt.

After checking up on her chasers, that by the way, they were still a little further away from her for some reason, she called her magic nature again. This time, it wouldn't be as easy as to just summon a root from the dirt, and she was now out of her precious staff. She would need to get by just the raw magic.

An idea came up in her mind, making Lux smile. She focused her magic in both her hands, a green aura surrounding them. She paid a last glance at the army base, mentally counting how much way she has to dig till hit the Guardian's Sea beginnings. She nodded and then ducked down, her hand hesitantly tapping the dirt. She has about three minutes before Noxus' guards catch up with her; plus the alarm of the dock hadn't stroked out yet. But as if her thoughts summoned it, a second later, a strident, loud and pitched alarm pierced her hear.

She facepalmed. They really took their time to trigger it; or it was just her imagination?

Her hand took the control this time, desperately starting to dig. When she expected it to hit painfully the hard dirt, she was surprised to see how the dirt moved out of the way almost by its own means, as though it shy away from the green aura. Lux hummed happily, eagerly starting to going under. Both her arms felt like they were two giant motorized shovels; she just had stretch them out in line and the rest was a job done. She first dug some meters straight down to avoid any damage to any root she could face, but the girl was surprised to see how the dirt she initially dug moved again back in its original place.

" _Magic is such a cool thing… Can't believe I've been all this time stuck on light._ " She thought as she dug horizontally. Lux then frowned to herself. _"Not that I don't like light._ " The girl excused herself, feeling the need to do it.

She snapped out, still not believing how she was easily distracted by her own thoughts and how she is still alive.

" _Better to be like this than an emotionless robot, though._ "

Despite her efforts, it was impossible to shut her mind voice down; so she just ignored it. Sometimes it felt like it has own life. She advanced fast through the dirt, the most difficult thing being to crawl, dragging her brown bag with her. What it would normally take hours to do, she did it in seconds. She didn't even have to worry about landslides; the underground structure repaired itself!

When she was one hundred percent she already outpaced the dangerous gate, her mind started to work out her memories again. She never has been inside Noxus' dock before. But of course, she did have to read and memorize the whole map of the base as well. Didn't matter if her old business was underground; Demacia wasn't taking any chance. She was somewhat thankful for that.

Knowing that, she descended even more, making sure to not hit the water ahead of schedule. Then, she turned her direction towards the north side of the base, right to the exportation platform. If she could recall well, the platform B was the one in charge of take care of all trash the base produces and to export it to Zaun. Why, she didn't know. That platform was the only one who has a direct connection with the main building, also being one of the closest one of it.

She kept on a couple of meters, stopping instantly when she started to face sand instead dirt, almost fifteen meters underground. She would need now to start go up and make a hole directly into the sea. With a frown in her lips, still questioning herself about the reliability of this make-shift plan, Lux divert the curse of the hole, trying to get it as close as possible to the platform she was looking for. After a couple of seconds, the pressure on her hands suddenly intensified; making her to know that the ocean was practically above her.

She switched to one-handed and used her now free hand to take out her boots and somehow put them inside her bag, her forgotten but useful bag.

"I only hope it doesn't get ruined by the salad water…" she muttered sadly.

She deduced that the small vibrations she could barely feel in direct contact with the sand were the metal pillars that supported the platform up, which meant she was directly beneath it. She sighed deeply, not feeling ready at all. Lux looked behind her, not facing a hole as how she was expecting but a small cavity she currently was from, the sand perfectly in its place again. Then she glanced down at her bare feet, brushing them against the cold sand, but not feeling uncomfortable at all.

"Two more to the list." She said, frowning and not finding an explanation. "I'm such a trouble magnet."

She shook her head furiously and stared deeply up, right into her green aura hands. She counted to tree and smiled, then she expanded both hands and forced her magic to break out from her hands, allowing to a small explosion of magic to appear. The nature magic blew up the rest of the sand left and pushed away some salad water in the process, giving Lux a faint, beautiful sight of the sea. She breathed extremely deeply, trying to grab as much air as she could and jumped out of the hole, splashing her face with water. Her head immediately straightened out, opening her eyes, ignoring the itching in her eyes, and looking for the platform. She found it an instant later: one platform of about 25 meters, in half by a small division, making the right part longer than the other.

Lux putted her legs in the edges of what was left of the hole and used them to impulse her body upwards, the sand on her feet tickling them; not seeing how again the sand came back to its original place, leaving no clue that anything happened there. She held her breath tightly in her chest, diving towards the surface. She knew how Noxus had sensors around their entire base and nigh of it to detect any kind of enemy approaching; that was her entry card. Under red alarm, the whole base was extremely paranoid. It was completely assured they will send someone to check out the sudden movements below their own frigging base.

Lux's face twisted almost funnily in effort, the lack of oxygen kicking in painfully. She swam a couple of meters more, pushing the rope of her bag between her arm and chest in an attempt of not losing it, the promise of some oxygen making her to keep on. She did raise herself enough in the water to start seeing rays of lights entering the sea thanks to the sun; enough to give her hope. Two seconds later, she managed just in time to hold herself back, emerging silently in the surface. The first thing she did was breathe again for own sake, taking not too much time to refrigerate her blood with life as she would like it.

She looked around, trying to familiarize with her surroundings. She was floating on the shallow waters of the ocean, a beautiful sunny day with no clouds, currently beneath the largest part of the platform B, the right one. Lux didn't lose any further time. She swam at the closest pillar of metal, one from the right side of the right part of the platform, grabbing it tightly to get some support. The blonde suddenly realized she could've die down there; why the thought of it hit her so hard? Did really that time out of duty punished her so hard?

She freeze, her grab in the pillar tightening a lot. The ambient drastically changed; the tension flooded everywhere. Lux's hearth rate slowed a little, she now breathed as silently as she could. Her gaze went up, facing nothing but the metal of the platform, but she knew more. Her eyes did see more than it appeared. Slow, almost completely silent steps moved through the platform, this time not being sensed by her magic; impossible, the only thing of the platform over earth were the pillars; but her instincts. Someone, or some, were above her.

She narrowed her eyes. This wasn't bullshit like those guards from the prison. The people up were real soldiers, probably better at fighting than her. She did know where to punch to incapacity or kill somebody in an instant, but it is a completely different story when she has to do it in real battle. Those soldiers weren't sitting ducks. She switched at the pillar in front of her and waited. Lux needed to fan them out first.

She waited… The steps covered that end side entirely, but slowly, as if it was checking for something or someone. Then, it jumped at the other side, its shadow briefly impacting on Lux's skin. Some time went by.

"Nothing." A raspy, deep voice spoke, obviously to a radio. "No one is here."

"I swear this is ridiculous. How can someone sneak in and appear out of nothing in the sea below our base? It's just impossible."

"You've said it, Gin, out of nothing." The man replied calmly, apparently turning around slowly.

Lux furrowed her lips; she couldn't let them escape, she needed to bait them. Calling some nature magic again, she concentred the tiniest part she could extract of her reserves without getting out of it in her fingers. She couldn't use light magic; that would be her end.

" _I wouldn't matter at the end. I'm already here; and it takes one day to trace me. By that time, I should be on Ionia._ " Her rebellious, stubborn mind complained.

Lux stopped in her tracks.

" _But every magic left traces behind. That's why I'm using nature magic; they have no way to tell if I'm the one using it, being a lot of people that also can,"_ she refuted herself. " _If I use light magic, I'll left a trace behind me when fleeing."_

" _Why, of course, it'll be a nature trace instead."_

The orb of nature magic disappeared immediately, her face with an expression of pure horror. She blinked and supressed all the magic nature she could desperately, absorbing as much magic waste she could back again into her body. Her own voice, thank God it came back again, just saved her ass. Magic got her inside; she needed now to get by without it.

"We better get back to our positions," the complaint one said with a bored tone. "We need to report this to Sergeant."

Lux panicked. She reached for her bag and raised it just enough to avoid water getting inside as she opened it up silently. She grabbed the stakes and threw one of them hard in front of her, landing in the water some meters away from her. A splash of water echoed.

"Hold on, did you hear that?" He replied, almost whispering. The girl beneath heard a clicking sound, probably for a gun and how the man came back again at the other side, leaving the other one behind briefly. He probably aimed someplace in the ocean. "Gin, what did you see?" He asked slowly. Lux had his chance.

She floated at the separation of the platform, her eyes falling on two pair of dark boots in the very edge. She knew what she had to do; she would regret later.

"I don't really see anything," Gin replied, this time a little serious than before. "Maybe we should check be-" He was cut off when two hands emerged from the sea and grabbed his heels. Before he could even shoot at what got him, he was dragged at the sea with incredible force. "DUDE, HEC!"

Hec turned around abruptly just in time to see the unbelieving sight of his buddy's surprised face, just before disappearing into the sea.

"Gin!?"

Lux didn't wasted any further time. She moved aside her bag and switched her hands on the man's heels to his shoulders, sinking him perforce, the factor surprise clearly doing its job. Then, stake in hand, she punched hard with the smooth handle right into the neck's nerve. Three seconds after the little ambush, the soldier was unconscious and already drowning in the water. Before dropping the body, she grabbed the gun he was carrying, a sort of artillery gun she never had seen before. The thing was heavy, and she almost couldn't make it to the other side of the platform before the other soldier rushed in.

"HEY, GIN!" Hec screamed, jumping back again and running at the verge of the platform where his partner was standing just seconds ago. He saw nothing but the crystalline water shining due to the sunrays. "Damn it!" He cried, feeling extremely impotent. He t'ched and quickly got rid of her gun, placing it beside him. He reached for his boots to take them off when-

"Freeze."

His body paralyzed immediately. The ambient turned in a suffocating bubble of pure tension.

"Raise your hands; don't even try to reach your gun."

The man did as he was told, slowly raising both hands up, not even daring to glance at the gun near him.

"Now, turn around slowly. No sudden moves."

He listened. Bit by bit, he twirled on her knees, the scuffing sound of the cloth of his clothes unnerving him. His face went up and he wasn't surprised at what he saw. It was a young girl barefoot, blonde hair with some remains of dark dye on it, blue jeans and red shirt with a bag, aiming at him. But what it did matter to him wasn't all of that but her face. That little, petite, dammed face Swain made everyone to remember, was staring at him with troubled, hesitant eyes. Hec's stare switched at her hands holding the gum, slightly trembling.

"I never thought I'd have the pleasure of meeting the person who managed to fool Institute of War for over a month. You made it look like kid's games." He started talking, stealing one eyebrow from Lux. "What are you going to do with me now? Kill me? With _that_ stance?"

As soon the words entered in Lux's ears, her eyes widened slightly for a second. Then, she closed them and smiled in realization. When she gazed at him again, the hesitation was gone; there was instead a cold, calculative look. Hec cursed mentally.

"You're right. I need to catch myself. Don't bother trying to buy time; I'll finish this quickly." The girl answered harshly, the grab on the gun handle tightening. She closed the distance between them with just one and half step. "I just… Sorry about your friend."

His face perked up abruptly, furious, challenging Lux without any fear.

"WHAT did you do to him?!" He hissed frantically. "Where is he?!"

"Sorry, I'm running late." She answered.

And with that, instead of a killing blow as how the man expected, she just knocked him unconscious in a flashy move with the gun. She caught him just in time, saving his body from death. The girl dragged him a little and dropped him in the middle of the half-platform. She sighed.

"I hope he isn't kind of vengeful type. I don't need any more enemies."

Lux ducked down beside Hec, her hands looking for something. She checked on every corner of his gear, finally finding a small white target in the pants pocket. She only flashed at it a short glance; it was an ID army card which had an image of a serious Hec in the left side, while in the right has important information, such as full name, which she discovered it was Hector Grim, age and current rank. But what it mattered to Lux was the code bar at the end of that side. She saved the card in her pocket; it may be useful later.

Battle sense punched her mentally (how), making her to react quickly. She unzipped her heavy bag and took out her boots back again, putting them in her feet. Then, she turned around and ran. The 25 way in the platform was spend by a little hysterical Lux thanks to her wrenched appearance and her now ruined hair. She tried to distract herself gazing at the various cargo ships distributed across it, anchored and some with cargo boxes onto, some not. Her eyes then turned in front of her, right into the main building and the passage way that connected it to the platform B. Even from that distance, she could see the tall and dark walls, around two meters high. It was a strange sight; she didn't know why Noxus' taste for those colours, but well, it didn't matter. She instead sharpened her sight, looking for an entry route, her eyes inevitably falling on the ventilation duct on top of the hallway, big enough to let someone to sneak in. She frowned her lips; such a newbie plan for her, but she hasn't any other option. She couldn't use magic and she hasn't got any useful instrument with her but the ID card, and that wouldn't do everything.

She approached the end of the platform, facing the technologic-looking door, noticing how there was a small panel beside where it was supposed to be the keyhole with buttons from 1 to 9, and a small-hole line such like a pin pad to slide through it a card. She paid it just one second of her attention, thinking how those doors could've been very useful in the prison as well. It wasn't, however, what she exactly was looking for. She gazed up, raising one-handed her gun as well, still not believing Noxus' soldiers were actually using ranged weapons, and facing a very small black hole with a transparent lens. She stared it for half a second, pulling the trigger down of her gun. The piercing sound disturbed the calm ambient just for a moment. Lux sighed, putting her arm back in place. Now they'll be here in any moment; if the lack of response of those two soldiers weren't enough, then her truly image recorded by the security camera will do the job.

She ignored the door and moved to the left, running on another platform that served as support about two meters wide, being parallel with the walls of the hallway, and turning again to start to run alongside the long wall. She ran a couple of seconds, the main building being already visible, shooting another camera in the wall as bonus. The ladder that leaded towards at the top of the hallway attracted her deeply. Her hands jumped on the metal bars, already starting to climb it as she analysed the upper part of the main building, catching in sight the outlet conduit. The place was actually prettu big: it held the reception room, security room, energy room, some offices, along with the captain's and other things she now didn't remember. She was actually surprised.

Lux's hand grasped the edge of the wall at the end of the ladder and, at the same time, the same door as before snapped open loudly. Her head twisted, alarmed, but her legs kept on. As she finished standing up on the roof, heavy steps took the platform, the characteristic sound (to her, at least.) of army men doing their stuff triggered.

"Go, go, go!" some of them cried as the door unleashed a wave of bulky, armed to the teeth soldiers. The front line were made out of four men with big, rectangular black shields, behind them were another set of four men following them closely, this time with long spears. And the last four but not less important, another four men with, of course, the same long-ranged weapon she has. In front of them was what it seemed the leader: a tall man with white spiked hair; why he wasn't using helmet, she didn't know.

"Fan out! Go and find her!" The white haired man spoke aloud. "She is not outside the base; she can't run from us now!" He said sternly, receiving a loud scream of acceptance of his group, effectively dispersing.

Lux snorted without sound, holding tightly the gun at her chest while moving jumping at the roof of the main building to not being sighted. If she wasn't wrong, she did disappear for over a month, neither Demacia nor Noxus nor the Institute of War being able to find her. Sure, she maybe had exposed herself before hitting Noxus, but what's the big deal? She hasn't been caught.

Her feet hurried up at hearing one of the three groups also taking the same route as her. She took notice of the outlet conduit near the left vertex in front of her, a rectangular silver conduit coming out from the roof with a shape of a quarter of circle. She sprinted towards it, dodging the giant antenna in the middle, feeling a little sad about the thought that she couldn't damage it enough to mess their communication.

Before anyone could notice her, she quickly stood in front of the conduit and grabbed it with both hands, gun rested on the horizontal top of the conduit. She introduced her legs first, then her torso, then one arm, and the other, but making sure to not forget her gun. She slide through the curve before starting on the difficult task of descend without making any sound AND with a big gun in one hand. She stuck her back at one of the rectangular walls, while both legs were stuck in to opposite one flexed. Her body allowed her to descend slowly, hitting the fact that the metal was actually very firm and it would need a hard smack in order to produce a sound.

She moved under, knowing she would have a small amount of time until her chasers figure out she actually _wasn't_ outside. She needed to get to the security room as fast as she can.

Her beloved boat was actually in the deposit number 5, the further away from her because that was the one Noxus Army stored ships that were currently either in reparation or useless in the actual situation, vide the no war. How (un)lucky of her. The card she stole wasn't going to open the hard door there, she was sure. That card would just open maybe the entry door of the main building, but nothing more. So, in order to get inside, she needed to shut down the whole system. She knew it sounded crazy, she had done crazy things before, like the rampart climbing before. This should be a piece of cake. She hoped.

Her butt meted the end of the vertical way. She held on the gun jealously and tried to move her head in a lower lever to peek in the vent beside her leg. She somehow twisted her body and managed to get her eyes on the thin lines that allowed vision at the other side. She was in the reception, right above the desk of the secretary. Her pupils dilated upon seeing two soldiers standing right beside the entry. She resisted the urge to laugh at them; Lux was practically in front of them and yet they didn't notice!

But for her own sake, she snapped out. The security room awaits.

She then proceed to fully lie down in the cold metal, and strangely, comfortable. Three paths were lit; one to the right that leaded towards the offices, another behind that leaded towards the captain's office, and the left one that leaded towards what she was interested now. Lux started to drag her body expertly, not letting claustrophobia affect her. A couple of meters made the job. She faced what it could have been her first obstacle: a fan with four sharp-looking blades… that wasn't working. No air moving, no fan spinning. Her arms reached for the gun first and managed to pass it to the other side, and then her body followed. Her bag was now another part of her body, attached to her leg, she moved without any problems, not a single scratch on her.

The drag continued. She advanced up in the hallway below her, sneaking through another vent that seemed available as the conduit started splitting up in more paths to the other rooms. There was a guard in front of every room, guarding like a loyal dog. There was also one man walking back and forth across the entire hallway, starting in the beginning, to the end, and repeating the process over and over. She smirked as her body crept, advancing a little further before turning at her right. The faint light that came from beneath through the vents disappeared for some moments thanks to passing through wall-in-wall, appearing again by the only vent in front of her but red.

She moved the gun aside and the bag as well, and raised her back to peek out. A small room with three big desks occupied half of it. Maps, documents, a cool-looking radio were on them, also a pair of straight keys and a small telephone station. In the wall in front of her, opposite of the entry door as well, there were dozens of screens showing up different corners of the army; the security cameras connected to them. She noticed how two of them were black, Lux's doing. Below, there were a handful of computers with war stuff he didn't try to recognize. But what drawled her attention the most were the three people down there, seated down in swivel chairs, sliding all over the place. They looked really stressed.

So, finding out she couldn't take the gun with her because the damn vent wasn't big enough and it would be risky to just simply take it with her when out, Lux slowly started to open the vent as she heard the heated stuff going on.

"She has just disappeared! Platform B was the last place she has been seen." A young woman said, almost screaming, to a microphone in the right side of the room, holding a red button while talking, with audiphones on her ears. She kept silent for a moment, hearing something from them. "Yes, understood, I'll launch it to start tracing." Said this, she dumped the button and the audiphones, her feet pushing her at the front side of room while on the chair. Lux went suspicious. She opened fully the vent and prepared herself to jump.

"Where are the backup?" One of the two men asked aloud, puzzled, sliding to the left side at the telephone station. "They should be already here!"

"Call the Quarters." The other dude answered absently, sat down in front of the main computer while tipping something.

"I'm on it, but they are unable to find General Swain!" He screamed somewhat angrily, drawing this time the attention of both his companions.

"What? General Swain is not showing up on duty?" The woman asked in extreme surprise, not noticing the figure perking up behind her and her partners, above. "He's missing?"

"We're calling to his house but he's not answering. Right now, a couple of soldiers are heading towards it; but it's strange! General Swain ignoring something like this? Especially when it has to something to do with the fugitive?" He pointed that out, reaching up his hand and grabbing one of the telephones from the station, already calling. "I'll check it out now."

Lux jumped. In the middle of the air, the world seemed to stop, allowing her mind to process what she just heard. Swain not answering meant that her suspects about Katarina were right. It's very likely she killed him, maybe with Talon's help, maybe not. The fact that Swain was probably the killer of Katarina's father didn't help at all. The betrayal only triggered the flame. Lux always knew Katarina wasn't completely loyal to Noxus. She only wanted to stab and kill people, as how disgusting and creepy it sounds, it how it is. And Talon, well, he only listened orders, but nothing else. He only stayed in the city because he also wanted to know what happened to his adoptive father. But well, all in all, it was a suspect Lux always had. And now, it's going to be even easier to escape.

She descended in what it would be called a "silent" surprise attack. She flipped in middle air and hit with her legs the guy who was calling through telephone. As his body fell unconscious at the floor, with a massive contusion for sure, the other two noticed her with an expected surprised face. Before any of them could react, Lux punched hard in the face of the man in front of her, KOoing him. She reached for the small gun in his belt and aimed it just in time at the woman, catching her in the middle act of pressing the panic button.

"Stop right there if you don't want to get your entrails all exploded out of your body," she warned coldly.

The woman gave her one of the worst fear faces she ever witnessed, making her almost feel guilty for doing this. But she didn't allow herself to faint; she wasn't going to kill her anyways.

"Now, deactivate all the security system." She ordered at the woman, who was currently frozen in her position. "I'm not clear enough? Maybe this will encourage you a little bit."

She fired. The bullet didn't make any sound when impacted right behind the woman, hitting the wall and missing her neck for just a centimetre, the muffler in the gun taking care for any sound and the fortified walls as well. That definitely snapped out the woman for her state because she didn't hesitate, not even a second, before standing up and walking at the main computer with Lux's cold gaze following her. Not less than a minute, almost all the room went "turned off". The screens above were shut down, with the three computers as well. The only light that kept on working was the red one above.

"D-done," she stammered, slowly spinning around and facing her assaulter. She was brave.

Lux lowered the gun dismissively, walking at the woman. Both stared each other, one with fear and one with… nothing.

"You did well." Lux praised, a hopeful look appearing in the woman's eyes. "At least you aren't stupid."

And with that, Lux raised her hand simply knocked another person unconscious. This time, she grabbed the woman in middle air carefully, putting her back in the chair again quickly.

She turned around and analysed the situation. Right now, not everyone outside won't notice the precarious state of the base. It won't take too much time, though; it would be enough to just try and open a secured door with a card or a password, only to find it already unlocked, that being just one example. She needed to hurry up.

Spinning around, her feet took her at the exit door, a much secured one. It was significantly bigger than any normal one, in a strange oval shape. It has a panel beside as well, but it seemed different than the other. Instead of passing a card, you needed to insert it, and it was obvious that it won't be the only requirement to fulfil in order to enter.

" _Such a good door… beaten by the ventilation conduits."_ She thought with irony as she ran at it. " _Can't blame them. They spend so much recourses securing the borders of the base that they forgot about inside._ "

The ID card inside her pocked made itself useful, appearing in her mind. She fished it out of her pockets and nailed it with extreme force in the cavity where the card was supposed to be putted delicately. After fighting at the resistance force that tried to deny her wishes, she succeeds. The little screen above the buttons and the cavity lightened up, a red square with big letters saying "ERROR". She smiled with satisfaction.

She saved the gun inside her other pocket, deciding she liked both, and moved at one of the swivel chair, dragging it at the corner of the room beside her where the conduit was. She went up, not gazing behind, stretching her arms and grabbing the border of the conduit. She pushed herself up, meeting with her gun and bag. She putted everything on place: bag attached somewhere and gun in hands before adapt her body to move like a snake, but blonde.

She found herself again above in the reception. The exit was calling her, but Lux stopped right into the first vent, peeking outside, hearing something she didn't like.

"What's wrong whit this?" came the annoyed complaint below her from the secretary, smashing the buttons of the keyboard. "Damn! Not now!"

Lux gulped and decided she heard enough. Her nails impaled in the metal weirdly helping her body to climb up. She putted herself in the previous position, gun in her lap, and started climbing.

"What's wrong?" A male voice echoed through the place, more distant to her.

"The computer doesn't allow me to get some files I need from the core." She explained somewhat frustrated, trying again. A sigh later, Lux knew it didn't work. "The password won't work, and I called inside the security room but they don't answer."

Lux, ignoring the pain in her back with teary eyes ad near in the end, stretched it slowly upwards, trying to hold herself in the curve of the conduit, trying to not slip off.

" _I'll check it out._ " Was the last thing she heard before erupting outside. She snapped out instantly, straightening her body and switching her bag to her shoulder. Lux hugged her gun for a second before running at the ladders again, descending almost immediately.

Her feet on the platform again, she didn't let her guard down when she the silence greeted her. The alarm has gone off and no soldier was in sight of anywhere close to be heard by her ears. She spun around and ran, still not knowing how her legs hadn't die yet of tiredness. She passed by the main building, not bothering to shoot at any security cameras she faced. That would alert to everyone, exposing her position immediately. She didn't have any way to figure out when the security system will be activated again, but it was certain it will take some time. Hopefully enough to allow her escape.

She steadily ran across the main building's rear over the platform, right where another ramification appeared, extending the space towards to a sort of roundabout where another platforms were connected. In the middle of the circle, a pole rise raised proudly high in the air, the Noxus' Army flag showing off its colours. An instant of appreciation was enough to Lux to decide she liked it. It was quite simple: it was all washed in silver-grey, while in the middle there was a variation of the original Noxus emblem but with an anchor on it. Cool!

She smiled, but snapped out. She lowered her gaze, gun in position and kept on her way. She passed by the pole, leading towards the platform right in front of her, the one who was connected at the barracks. The first one came in her sight, the second one of a row out of three barracks, being three rows in total putted horizontally from her point of view.

She approached with caution at the closest to her, crossing through the short distance drawn by the short bridge, before the platform starting extending and forming a big, large rectangle, holding the aforesaid. The barracks were in plain simple. They only served as dormitories to the soldiers: just to sleep and spend time, while everything else they could possibly do, such as take a shower or eat, was done in further buildings ahead, like the dining hall, or also the simply called restroom.

Smashing against the wall was enough to hide her from the obvious soldiers who were from now on in the other side. It was very unlikely of them being inside of any building; it was way better of them just staying outdoors and to keep an eye on everyplace they could. But she shouldn't be overconfident.

Her senses were her best tools to reach the deposit of freedom. She would need to just thinking of magic for a moment, but how hard it could be when you used it your whole life? Not that much for sure.

It was like a bubble blowing up; her senses indeed became strangely more aware of what surrounded her, but at the same time, the world seemed darker, no matter how much sunlight washed all over her. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps coming from the right side of the building alerted her. An instant later, she chose the left side to move, silently, avoiding bumping with whoever was there. The barracks remembered to her the game of hide-n-seek she used to play when kid with Garen. The memories popping up in her mind certainly helped her out to catch up with the situation, no matter how ridiculous it seems to compare something like that with what she was doing right now.

At the end, she sneaked through the entire place without being discovered, using her abilities that appeared from nowhere, abilities without her light magic. The first row came by easily. Before crossing stupidly at the next one, she found _another_ hiding spot, and waited on it, oblivious to the sight of everyone, just watching how the soldiers went by with dead silence in their faces, expecting something to appear. Less than a minute later, she figured out the route patrons. She waited for another chance to get out and move again; another fifteen seconds, other longest ones. She felt older.

Row two and three weren't easy to overwhelm, especially when the routes didn't left almost any aperture to be used for a fugitive. The only ones were almost made up on porpoise, as though they existed in order to fish her out and catch her in act. But no, she didn't spend such obnoxious years in the military to just let that happen, no! As always, she pushed her limits; by any necessary mean.

She managed to beat two soldiers who were in the middle of the main platform standing motionless; she couldn't go through any side; they were covered by a wall of strong and tall soldiers waiting for her, and also she didn't allowed her hands to use the tempting ladders she found. It was extremely risky. So, the silent gun in her pocket made itself useful. Two bullets in exchange of a stream of tears? Fair enough. The bigger one would be useful if she was found; Lux decided to keep it for now.

The last row appeared as she moved like a shadow through the walls. This is when not destroying the antenna paid her back. The situation in the security room now was known by everyone; the news being told to the soldiers through those small radios. The message was clear: _someone busted in and deactivated the whole security system. The door is locked and the three agents inside won't answer._

The ambient changed amazingly. Lux appreciated with mixed feelings. Funded in the shadow of one wall, she took advantage of it. She couldn't be merciful, not when they dropped their guard so easily. The wall of the inconvenience was taken care of, this time, without any fatal incidents. Those soldiers were covering the way out to another roundabout split up in a way that it didn't left out any corner to sneak in, plus the watchtower that were a few meters in the other side where keeping an eyes around as well. All she needed was to dive in the water, unfortunately, again.

Her big gun was dumped behind with pain in her heart, but she couldn't take it with her; swimming with it would be extremely difficult and she hasn't too much time. The sight of an intelligent soldier caught a strange shape moving in the water, or that was at least what he thought. But when his feet walked slowly, with caution and with his companionship asking him what was he doing, he just found the water crystalline as always. Empty. He turned around, about to ask to someone if they saw it as well, but he found the strange sight of a green leave sliding though the air, the sunlight giving it the illusion of brilliance. The leave twirled around the air and disappeared in a gust of wind, right to the direction of the forest. Everyone followed it with the gaze. A moment later, the suspects were evaporated.

This is one of those moments when Lux's breath is tested. The odds of it needing to stay in her lungs as much as possible, like, a massive amount of time, were quite low. But the odds hated her. Her lungs flounder at her desperately, ordering the grace of pure air inside. Her head only touched the surface again when she crossed the roundabout, following the platform that connected it to the beginning of the deposits zone. The breath was lifesaving; her blood felt free again in her body; but that wasn't enough. Steady breath in her throat, she swum below the H platform, her ears not missing the sound of boots above. The long wood finally seemed to approach an end, which allowed Lux to find shelter in the giant square platform, but below. Her extremities took her across the water, directing her to the "back" of the platform, right were the first deposited was settled. Her hands reached up for the pillar, the unnerving sensation of not being able to see the end of hit hitting her; she tried to not look into the water. Then she climbed it after some trouble with her wet hands. A blonde figure emerged of the water and landed on the back wall of the building, forced to completely straightener her body in order to fit in the narrow space. Being almost on tip toes, she proceeded, back smashed on the hard wall. One watchtower at the distance threatened her, but when she approached the corner of the wall and sneaked to the other side, after first checking on anyone close, she felt safe again. Her hand instinctively took out the gun in her pocket; not much bullets were left. Her heart started to throb with force. She was close.

Gun aimed in front of her, she turned around in the kind of passageway between two walls, her eyes twitching and looking for someone to shoot at. She found nobody, so she moved. Moving silently on the wall, already catching the sight again of the platform at the end of the passage, she was fast enough to switch at the wall in front of her, the shadow courtesy from the sun covering her body just in time when a pair of soldiers, guns in hands, passed by on the platform. Her heart ached painfully in stress, but she resisted; and they're gone. She did not sigh in relief; that would be dangerous, so she just opted to blink and roll out of her spot.

Surprisingly enough, the deposit number five wasn't that long away from her as her crazy mind made her think. The same sneaky patron repeated itself when it was needed. There wasn't any roundabout here, so she wouldn't be able to cover a big amount of way by just swimming. The water here was, ironically, hard to reach. This zone was full of buildings, the deposits, and other buildings, small deposits that complemented the bigger ones! The small holes on the platform weren't big enough to allow her in (she felt like she was being called fat), so it was like zigzagging. While the direct way at her ticket of freedom were about, eighty meters straight, she twisted it around one hundred fifty. She came upon tons and tons of security cameras, but none of them seemed to have had notice her. Time was such a trivial thing to her right now, so she didn't know how of it went by since her arrangement in security room, but it seemed like not that much. Besides, she couldn't waste any more bullets.

The scene around her warped, and after some struggle and a furious hair, her head slowly emerged from the water, rising to the, again, platform above her. Her eyes accommodated at the same altitude of the wood surface, giving a crazy-hoped stare at the building in front of her. Deposit number five didn't have a different appearance from the others; anything special at sight. But it did was special. And no one messed up with her special things.

The guard's throat that was guarding beside the entry room was perforated by a black projectile that appeared from nowhere. A moment later, her body fell lifeless in the ground, ground dropped to the water close to him. The two closest guards panicked, immediately responding at the fallen comrade. Before anyone else could take notice of the situation, two bullets coldly calculated smashed perfectly behind both guard's necks. They fell and died

Lux appeared in front of them, her hand trembling monstrously with disgust.

" _Cold, but necessary."_ Her voice reminded her darkly.

Her didn't feel up to hold that gun anymore. As she dropped it to the salad water, she jumped on the puddle of blood, not wanting to get her boots covered in blood. She didn't pay any further glance at what she just did; but instead Lux reached up the heavy door and pushed the handle. The turned off screen beside it allowed her to it without any problem. But before passing at the other side, she quickly crouched down and took out another target from one of the soldier's pocket. She spun around and inserted it with force inside. Another small obstacle when the security system would be up again. She shut the door down. Then, everything was forgotten as she glanced around.

Deposit number five was actually the smallest of the five. Upon entering through the door, the floor of hard rock played the role of another platform. In front of her, after walking a couple of meters, there was a direct exit to the sea, closed with a sluice of metal. At the edge of the platform, there were two boats way bigger than the normal ones attached to two poles respectively. Of course she would forget everything.

Lux rushed at her right, dodging a pair of stairs that leaded towards to a kind of second floor made out of wide grids. The only half-glance she paid to it only made her to know that there only were just a couple of crates up there. Nothing special.

Her butt found a momentary comfort on the chair at the small control station of the deposit. Her fingers darted across the power button of the computer below the "rock table". Her fingernails tapped impatiently on the table as she saw how the green power colour flooded the screen in front of her. A couple of seconds where a small rectangle asking for a password should appear, it appeared immediately all the control options instead. Her eyes found the super important option: it was simply putted as "POWER: OFF";she switched it to on with her fingers smashing the keyboard. Done with it, she jumped off the chair and moved some steps at her right, the manual station appearing in front of her.

Every deposit was controlled through the main building, but every one of them has a manual station inside as well. Of course, they all were under the control; and no one will be operating without the consent of the base, or if someone just turn off the security system. Convenient.

The girl fired her arms at the double big-looking lever, pulling it down. A click sound echoed through the walls of the small place before the sluices creaked and slowly started to open. Lux shrieked in pure emotion as she ran at one of the two boats. She found herself at the edge of the platform, and before jumping in, she checked on everything on her. Bag, boots, the clothes, and her grandma's necklace in her neck.

"Can't believe I almost forgot about this." She muttered to herself, stroking the gem in the middle. "Good thing it's still here…"

Lux snapped out and sighed. She secured her bag again on her shoulder and jumped in the boat. Her feet landed safely on the big space inside, staggering her body just a little thanks to the dynamic surface of the water. She recomposed herself and decided to glance around. She loved the boat, in fact, it looked great. Its size was about the double than a normal one; it was soft brown inside and a hard-looking white colour on the exterior body of it. There were only two seats in the front, where was the steering wheel and all the buttons, levers and even a mini-map that currently was turned off. She smiled with excitement and stomped lightly the boat, discovering that it wasn't made out of simply wood or hollow metal, but out of a strange and solid metal-looking one. Her body rested over the gunwales to look beneath: The bottom of the boat gave her the strange feeling that was made out of bricks thanks to the lines that gave the similar shape, a good amount of bricks. But still, the thing floated on the water without any issue.

She forced herself to back off and to rush at the seats. Her hands appeared right in front of the drawer below right the steering wheel. Opening it up, she took the only thing inside: the keys. Her hands inserted the keys inside the ignition tank and twirled it one time. A small click sound echoed before allowing the engine to run. Lux's blue eyes gazed upon the bright sight in front of her. The beautiful sea shining to the sun, the breeze not fitting at all with what was going on. She sighed happily, right before the same-horrendous alarm sound striking in her ears, sounding this time way louder. The deposit was surrounded by a red light and the sluices creaked one more time, stopping opening up, and backing off again at its original place.

"Too late for them!" She screamed, grabbing the lever beside her and pulling it, not missing how the door behind her was actually being tried to break by someone; the bad guys."

The boat erupted forwards in an incredible speed, covering the couple of meters in front of her to the exit in just a couple of seconds. The sea slapped her hard; the saltwater smell flooded her nose in an attempt of encouraging her to keep going. She decided to please herself by looking at her reflection in the crystalline water, noticing for the first time she was actually smiling with pure happiness.

A siren overlapped the alarm this time, snapping her out of her dumb state. She twisted her neck and looked behind her only to find to her horror a squad of small boats like hers following.

"Well, it wasn't that easy…" She ironically said, going faster.

* * *

"What should we do, Captain?" The woman with a table said, taking a step towards the desk where the Captain was sat down, a stern expression in his face.

"What are our options?" The man said quickly, looking at the five people standstill in front of him.

"The boat she stole was one of the two we experiment not too long ago. It's safe to attack the boat to disable it and then precede with arrest her." One of them, a man, said obediently. "There's not too much we can do neither. That boat is… unfortunately for us, too fast."

"The other option is to try and convince her to stop." Another said. "But that's highly unlikely."

The room went silent for a couple of seconds, everyone lost in deep thought.

"Kill her."

Everyone but the Captain turned around, gazing in surprise at the sight of Darius leaning coolly in the wall beside the door, his face inscrutable.

"G-General Darius!" The Captain managed to joint with his lips, gazing with respect at the man in front of him and quickly standing up. He bowed before speaking. "It's a surprise to see you here! I assume you, sir, already know the critical situation we are in. We still need to decide what…"

"I sad kill her."

The man stopped in his speaking and blinked.

"Sir? But the Institute of War…" He tried to explain.

"I'm tired of those idiots." Darius cut him off harshly, straightening his body and walking up to him. Everyone moved aside. "That little Demacian did enough to everyone. Especially Noxus, OUR city. If the League of Legends has to say something about it, then they'll face me first. This became personal; don't hesitate. Aim to kill."

No one said anything for a couple of seconds.

"And… What General Swain said about this?" Captain asked softly, tentatively.

Darius stared at him deeply, making the man to regret his decision of speak.

"Swain is dead." He answered. The gaze of everyone widened wildly. "I found him bled out in his house."

"General Swain is dead…?" The woman in there asked horrified, still shocked. "But who?" She stopped herself, her face twisting in deduction. "Her?! Luxanna Crownguard killed our General?!"

"I'm still not sure." He said with his lips furrowed. "But I may have an idea…"

Everyone waited in expectation.

"But for now, take care of the Demacian. Blow up the hell out of her of the world."

* * *

For her own sake, Lux tried to not enjoy the wave riding, mostly because the Guardian's Sea was nothing to take easy of; specially when she was on just an boat, and mostly because her chasers (how tired she was of them, really) were currently getting on her nerves.

" _LUXANNA CROWNGUARD, YOU HAVE THIRTHY SECONDS TO STOP IMMEDIATELY BEFORE WE FIRE UPON ON YOU!"_ The voice of someone irritating echoed through a loud speaker, bouncing painfully in her ears.

She choose instead to ride and pierce through a big wave coming from a couple of meters, some salad water splashing in her head.

"NEVER!" she cried hysterically, her hands crushing the steering wheel tightly, rocking between waves.

"Goddammit this fucking shit!" The man in the front line of the arrow formation screamed, frustrated, throwing the speaker at the back of the boat. "This is madness, seriously!"

The driver chuckled silently, having a lot of trouble hiding his twisted lips. The glare the man beside threw at him made him stiff.

"Oh, you think it's funny, uh?" He barked dangerously, throwing daggers with his eye. "You better…!" He almost screamed with full force when a small green light of his walkie-talkie shined, a short-radio sound following it.

The man quickly reached up for the small radio, not without paying a stare at his fellow companion, promising suffer after he was done. His finger pressed the small button and he raised the radio to his ear.

"Here Kim." He answered quickly.

" _New orders: kill the target. It's ordered from above; don't hesitate._ " The voice from the other side said with not so strange eagerness.

He smiled maniacally to himself, nodding slowly.

"Understood." He answered. The radio turned off itself and it was back in his belt again; he turned to his comrade again, who was watching him with expectation.

"Well? What was that about?" He asked as he drove at the same time, not missing the blonde hair at the distance.

"GREAT news!" The voice erupted from his throat almost creepily, gazing again at the prey. "We've got new orders; now we may kill her!" He screamed happily, rejoicing in his own words. "Now, why don't you press that pretty button?"

The other man laughed irremediably, but said nothing nonetheless. Everyone was tired of the stupid chasing.

"Sure; just warn to the rest about the new orders." He accepted. His answer was just a shrug.

Turning his gaze momentarily below, he inspected around the several buttons, small levers and even the mini-map the boat had alongside the steering wheel. He smiled.

"Welp, I guess this is it."

Lux's gut kicked her extremely hard, like a hard punch from someone stronger than you. Her neck spun around just in time to see two small projectiles being expelled from the main chaser-boat. Her mouth opened up in great surprise and amazement, not really believing she was just being targeted to torpedoes.

"OH MY GOD!" She screamed, taking furiously the wheel and twisting it extremely harshly to the right. As the little runaway-breakers approached quickly through the water, she drove right into a giant wave; not so hard to found, literally being everywhere in the ocean.

The boat attached to the wave, Lux turning it around just slightly around its axis, making it actually to surf. When the torpedoes were about to hit her, entering the wave, she spun again the boat, managing to twisting it and making herself to pierce through it. The torpedoes emerged up from where she was just one second ago, rising in the air just some meters before exploding.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"·The man in charge of the main boat screamed, leaning over the edge of his vehicle, staring with disbelief at the big smokescreen in the air.

"That was badass…" The other one muttered, but not high enough to let anyone hear him; as he watched his senior grabbing the radio again.

He changed the frecuency before speak. "EVERYONE! Let's fire all of us this time in five seconds!" He cried loudly, turning off the radio and not waiting for an answer. "Prepare the torpedoes!" He ordered again, focusing intently on the enemy boat.

Lux's panicked eyes moved around, trying to find something useful at the situation. She needed to get rid of them right away before even trying to direct the boat towards Ionia. And of course, they won't just chase her forever.

The only thing she could find and press with her finger was a red, medium-sized button below steering wheel. Another click-satisfying sound sounded before the big rectangular panel below started to get sink just some centimetres, then it spun around on its axis, showing its other side. She blinked and smiled devilishly at the range of completely-different new functions at her disposal.

The mini-map updated, and now it was looked like military radar, showing her as a white arrow (cool) and the other five boats as a group of red points. She reached up for the button beside the green mini-map with the acronym she recognized as torpedoes. Right after pushing it, the red buttons of the mini-map were surrounded with green rings, offering her to press objectives.

"I am THAT out-dated?" She said to herself, not being able to recall a single moment were she was a full active spy and actually seeing this kind of technology. "Technology is such a cool thing!" She said happily touching all of her enemies. "Light torpedoes!" She cried while touching again the button.

"NOW!" The boss screamed.

Lux managed to gaze behind her, having the similar gaze of torpedoes running again, with the difference she also ejected her own. She noticed two things. First, she stopped driving for a moment while enjoying the spectacle; two, her torpedoes were kind of a little bigger than the other ones, and it glowed brilliant red. She lived to witness the moment of one torpedoes of hers taking out three enemies ones, almost the same story repeating with the other ones and destroying two boats and the process, and of course, she lived to not see in time the sneaky projectile that came from her side through a giant wave. Her eyes snapped open, her lips went dry and she did the only thing she could do: duck and hold on something while the fear covered her.

For her, the world went black for less than a second. To everyone else alive, the torpedoes crushed and exploded loudly through its objective.

No one said nothing as the smoke slowly dissipated in the air. The breeze didn't make itself to wait, and proceeded quickly. The last three boats remain saw with surprise how not only Lux's boat wasn't in sight, but just some chunks of boat floating in the water.

"She's dead."

* * *

 **FINALLY I FINISHED THIS! OMG GUYS, I'M SO SO SO SOOOO SORRY FOR NOT UPLOADING FOR, LIKE, FIVE MONTHS!**

 **I CAN EXPLAIN IT; you see, for the first three episodes, I've got this "writing-fever." Welp, it vanished starting chapter four. That's simply why it took me so long. And it's really such a shame, guys, because I have so much to write, and I even have a special gift for one of the chapters, but it's way too far away.**

 **I'm ashamed to say that this thing will last a little while. While I feel pressured, I don't write! I just can't!**

 **Now, if you do feel like something doesn't makes any sense (about the story plot, not the grammar, dammit), then you're wrong! Haha ha ha…**

 **Right, I'm switching back to rate M; so that means you should expect anything here happening. Ah, yes, about that beta-reader... uh… forget about it. I guess I'm sticking with myself.**

 **Thanks for those who cared about me and the story, really. Now, because I don't know how much it will take to do next chapter, it may look fair telling you at least its title. Well, that's what I can do, so. It's veery likely that next chapter will be called "Miles Away". The other option being "I'm going to tell you a secret." Both means, actually, the same thing, but said differently. Thanks for read!**

 **Again, I'M SORRY!**

 **TRIVIA: did you know I first though about Lux going through Piltover and getting help from Jinx? Welp, that was dumped because it was difficult. Jinx will be apearing later in the story.**


	5. I'm going to tell you a secret

**Hello, here's what you've been waiting for, or well, at least some people.**

 **Just to you know, I'm not re-reading chapters! After finishing them, I publish! Not editing anything let alone reading these insanely long chapters till summer! My summer, don't get puzzled! Just two more weeks!**

 **5\. I'm Going to Tell You A Secret**

The world lightened up again, making her eyes to snap open harshly and to blink a couple of times. Air was accepted by her lungs effortlessly and she found herself completely disoriented. It took her some moments to remember what just happened. Then, her eyes went wide open.

She quickly tried to reincorporate, her forehead being meted by the drawer of the boat in loud-impact meeting.

"Ah!" She cried painfully, her body being rejected into the realm of the walkers and being forced back again on the boat, her head being again smashed into the hard wood.

She stood there in silence, trying to digest all the shame. She crawled on her back, moving in zigzag just enough to being able to stand up again. When her hand grabbed tightly one of the edges of the boat to pull herself up, she already felt the dizziness tormenting her head. She couldn't help but rest almost completely on it, her truly weak state taking her by surprise. Lux breathed deeply and, when she felt how the world went clear enough, she slowly turned around to the interior part. The first thing she noticed was she actually was completely alone, floating on the sea. The waters were calm and the sun hasn't hid yet. The afternoon was on middle way of its career. Puzzlement overcame her.

" _What… happened…?_ " She thought to herself, not even being able to think correctly.

She checked on her magic, feeling very uncomfortable because she wasn't able to define what was exactly happening inside of her. Her nature magic… was still there and working, but just barely. She couldn't use it anymore, not till after a good rest. Her light magic… felt exactly the same way, which was no sense. Both magic weren't interacting with each other at all, as though they just noticed they were completely strangers. She ignored the scared feeling crawling on her back. That won't help.

Her head lazily turned around at the mini-map, founding out it wasn't working correctly, signal interference taking over it. She breathed deeply again, really needing it, and looked this time at the combustible indicator. It was almost full; she barely used it, about five minutes while escaping. The boat had turned off itself. She has been floating on the ocean, like, a couple of hours.

Lux trailed with her feet at the steering wheel, founding the keys already on the same place she left them. She raised her gaze up, looking for the starts to guide her way. Even with the very sun up there, she could easily differentiate sun's light with star's ones. In just some seconds of watching, she knew where she was: actually not that far away from Ionia. She turned her gaze down, still not knowing how she missed the hundreds and hundreds of different magic trails coming from the horizon in front of her, obviously Ionia's doing. She looked at her sides, also finding small ones truly to the ocean. Why was it so easy now to see them? She didn't knew.

As she turned on the boat and started moving again, she tried to find a logical explanation about what happened in Noxus' coasts, quickly failing. But very deep, she knew what that was about.

"It happened again…" She said, her voice sore dry.

Her hands started to tremble slightly, but never losing care of the rubber in her hands.

"A shadow fades before light, a shadow fades before light…" She repeated mechanically, over and over. "A shadow fades before light…"

The effect wasn't immediate, but it always worked. After all, she hadn't used it in a long while.

"A shadow… fades… before light…"

She felt how her hands got stronger, as well her gaze, her body, her demeanour and mantra.

""A shadow fades before light."

She smiled. She was alright. Light was still with her, no matter what. After all, she still has some hours of trip left. No one will chase her now.

…

As the hours went by, Lux felt how the tenseness in both her body and mind slowly melted away with the waters. While standing up driving the boat, she enjoyed the sight of the crystalline waters and the beautiful sun, a smile peeking over her mouth. She felt how the past memories were buried deep into her mind, and allowed herself to store the new ones. The first one: the sight of freedom.

While advancing at Ionia, the dizziness didn't disappear at all, but she got used to it. After all, she only has to stand still and move the steering wheel to dodge some waves or, once in a while, some curious animals she faced. When her stomach felt like It was about to commit suicide and start eating himself, she knew she has to stop and eat something. Fortunately for her, the boat had a small chest in the opposite side of where she was driving, storing a small amount of survival food. She managed to find a small place where some sea plants grouped below and stopped there, feeling like a warm bath. Sat down and relaxed, she slowly munched the food bar, trying to swallow it without tasting too much. Her magic nature reserves increased a little bit, but she didn't allow herself to even interact with her magic; only when inside of Ionia. So the dizziness kept on.

Leaning above where exactly the enemy torpedoes hit, she saw how a big chunk of boat were lost. Lux chuckled to herself. Turns out those brick walls she paid attention before was actually a second reinforcement layer. She was blessed.

For the first time in days, tiredness showed off on her eyes. It was true that she wasn't able to sleep correctly since the first day she ran away, but the last days while she was fenced by everyone were more… stressful. Plus, her bladder was about to blow up! And she refused to pee on the ocean. That isn't ladylike.

She did know where to go to hit Ionia, but she wasn't sure where she would land. She was known in Ionia, like, a lot. So stopping in any big city was discarded. It wasn't something it bothered her, though; she was tired of seeing people, so being alone would be just perfect. She needed some time alone to recompose herself. Besides, she was tired of hiding.

The streams of magic started to be more usual as she approached the continent. Her eyes shined in excitement at seeing at the distance the silhouette of Ionia. This is when she stopped advancing on a straight direction and slightly spun the boat to the left, preparing herself to make a round around the island and to avoid hit on the south provinces. If she would dare to appear on any of Galrin, Navori or Shon-Xan provinces, she was asking to be caught. For now, she needed to take advantage of her own faked death. She could be anyone she wants, but in other place!

She took a lot of space between Ionia, not wanting to be detected. So, the trip went peaceful as always, her only distracting being her magic, which she suspected it was having a party inside of her, and the sun slowly approaching its end for the day. Her stomach complained, with her legs and feet supporting it as well, but she dismissed them. She couldn't stop for food now, not when she was close.

Another couple of hours went by. As she approached the northwest of Ionia, where its seashores showed off proudly its beaches, she enjoyed the last breeze of sea in her face. The peacefulness she felt in the ocean only increased when she had the first gaze of the beaches. Her hand slowly pulled back the throttle, slowing down more and more as she turned the boat to park it alongside the coast. She took the keys and turned it off, paying attention at the fuel gauge. It still had more than half of combustible inside. She shrugged happily.

She turned her head around back again to the beach and then allowed herself to be amazed with the beauty of the place. The beach remembered her exactly as the one she visited when kid. Completely clean, its sand almost shining in gold, its beginning having mosaics of different colourful shells and small stones.

When her hands grabbed the edge of the boat, they were trembling. She smiled joyfully, her eyes getting wet. She jumped out of the boat, her boots smashing against the sand and splashing some water around. She walked around the coast, taking her time to see and admire everything. She stopped for a moment, gazing down and taking notice of the stones slightly sunken on the sand. She took the first one she liked the most: the white one. It remembered to her the first glance of her own light. Then, her eyes followed the next one. Her fingers went down again into the water and took out the dark one. Because even herself needed some dark in her own life. She learned it through strife.

She unzipped her back, paying attention for the first time in what it seemed years at the wedding dress. She sighed. "I need to fix it somehow…" She muttered, putting the stones inside and closing it again. She then turned around at the sunset as sat down on the sand, avoiding sitting over the water.

The sun seemed to shine while under the effects of the approaching darkness of the night. She paid attention at the last rays of light coming out from the big star with a soft smile as the dizziness disappeared slowly. Lux blinked at the sun finally vanished, lips frowned. Then she turned around, her legs twisting an instant later. Her eyes caught the sight of a bush right after the beach, when a forest started to appear. She did her best to stand up and ran as fast as possible right to it, hiding behind and doing what she really needed to do.

Some minutes later, she came out of it leaving behind a "pew" sound; her face looking way more relaxed than before. Then, she blinked.

"What now?" She asked to the sky, the shining stars not answering.

It was true she ran away to Ionia in order to changer her magic imprint… But everyone now think she's actually dead, and who will ever think she is hiding on the island? It was an height lifted off of her shoulders; at least she wasn't in some kind of time trial. And the best part it was that the magic around Ionia created a shield, splitting her up from the rest of the world. So, in the stupid and minimal case of anyone trying to summon, contact or do something which involved her magic, they wouldn't find anything.

"It bugs me thinking all of this was for nothing…" She choked in her own words, her tongue feeling bitter just saying them. "…still better…."

She kept staring at those four strange stars above. The sky was definitely the most beautiful she ever saw. The stars shone in a stream that seemed to appear from the north, accompanied by a blue ocean of she would like to call it stardust. It was magnificent. But those stars shined the most. One blue, another green, purple, and finally, red, the four of them shining on the sea of the starry space. It was mesmerizing.

But as they came, they vanished in sight in a matter of an instant. She saw with disappointed now, in her opinion, the empty sky, and of course, uncertainty.

"Maybe it's the magic of the place." She tried to reason.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful sight. It reassured her and the doubts disappeared. She turned around, raising slowly her hands and trying to tame her magic. She smiled tentatively as she allowed the magic to flow slowly into her fingers. Carefully, she let the tiniest part of it out in the air. She squirmed in excitement at seeing the familiar and so-missed light shining coming out of her nails and dispersing with some green sparks, its particular sound melting with the atmosphere of the forest. Her eyes admired it every second possible, and she only snapped out when it completely disappeared.

Lux closed her hand abruptly after a second, heart troubled.

"…Maybe if I try again…"

She did try again. Her hand opened up again and she tried to repeat what she just did, but this time excluding the nature magic. Unfortunately, her magic didn't was planning on obeying: her eyebrows raised up as she caught in sight of her hand glowed furiously in light and yellow magic. She screamed just a little and with the help of her other arm, she grabbed her wrist to try to control the shakiness. Just a couple of moments went by which her hand's warm rose stupidly almost in a level that hurtled, when a green laser came out of it. It came out in front of her and pierced through an unfortunate tree on its way. Hands free, she watched how everything in its way was completely melted, and how the laser got lost in the sky. And then, right where the all the damage was done, such like the tree's cores and some dry leaves, the same green light from the laser glowed and started to regenerate almost all the slaughter.

"Oh, they're definitely mixed up!" She said to herself, clapping both hands frantically. "Could it be I'm that close?" She asked to the three she just chopped off.

She didn't know why she waited for an answer. But she did.

"…You're angry…?" She pouted, walking to the wood and stroking carefully its cortex. "Or I'm losing it? Maybe both, uh-uh."

Lux tapped a couple of times the wood before turning around and holding back the need of trying on her magic again. She needed to find somewhere safe to spend the night first.

So she started moving. The forest was actually a little bit different than Demacia's and Noxus'. By every step she took, the place gave her new feelings over and over. The sounds of small animals got along with her as she walked slowly in the night, Lux not feeling the particular urge to rest yet. Instead, as her feet moved, she couldn't help but notice all the possible meals for her to eat. From the dark berries on a big bush a couple of meters away from her, to the strange fruits that were hanging on the different kind of trees. She approached curiously at one of them, analysing the fruit, or whatever was that. The most accurate description she could give it was that actually it looked like a hanging lamp. It had three white small conduits coming out from the three, twirling some centimetres on the way before a pink flower erupted from each one of them at the end, pointing upwards. Inside of the flower, there was tons of blue stuff, similar to berries, which looked eatable.´

She spun her head to another tree: not much taller than her, brown, bright leaves, and growing on it the weirdest fruits she ever saw. Basically, all of them were perfect red rectangles, hanging over thanks to its green stem. They were about her palm size, and of course, they looked delicious and beautiful.

" _I can't recognize any single of them!_ " She thought shocked as she reached up from one of it. The effort needed was almost inexistent; the fruit detached from the tree without any problem. "I'm going to call you… fruitangle . Oh, yes, such a good name!"

In celebration, she leaned over it and grabbed a bite. It was spicy and sweet, and it felt like eating watermelon but more consistent but yet it seemed to melt on her mouth. Her tongue smashed all of it inside, trying to taste all of it before swallowing. It didn't go by too much time before another nibble attacked the fruit. She devoured every single bit of it, feeling how her stomach went rather full.

Her teeth bit the last piece of red skin and flesh before letting out a small burp of satisfaction. She sighed happily and threw away the stem; it will get one with the ground anytime soon. She rocked back and forth on her heels before deciding to grab more of those fruits and saving them in her bag just in case. She frowned and her mouth twitched, spilling out a small red seed on her lips.

"You and I will become best friends!" She said to hit, cleaning it up with her shirt and also saving it on her bag.

Done with food, she walked away from the tree, breathing deeply the fresh air and getting deep into the forest.

…

Her back leaned over the wide tree, receiving it and comforting all of her muscles. She re-accommodated her butt on the grass and stared calmly at the small fire burning in front of her, relaxing her body for the first time in what it felt like years.

After pace around some time in the forest, picking up the dry wood she could find, Lux eventually hit a small clearing big enough to put some rocks on the middle and start a bonfire. The warmth of it comforted her cramped muscles, which were started to feel the coldness of the night paying off painfully.

She couldn't wait any longer. Taking out another fruitangle absently, she closed her eyes, focusing in nothing but her magic. The black void highlighted two colours: yellow with white shades and deep green. Frowning, she readjusted herself uncomfortably on her position, still not knowing what to think at seeing both magic strangely mixed within. That didn't sound like "connect with nature" as the book said; and in order to summon her bag which contained it, she needed to use her light magic only. Her sceptre would be enough help.

She spent the next fifteen minutes trying to separate both magic. She frowned, staggered and cried in frustration at feeling a weird resistance from part of them. It felt like trying to separate water and alcohol. Another five minutes went by, which Lux used to relieve some stress by biting her lip. She managed to create and small space inside and absorbed as much light magic she could. Nature magic seemed like it noticed what she was doing and rushed to not be ditched. The space closed like a strongbox, and she smiled out of joy. Opening up her eyes, she raised slowly her hand and allowed light to flow through her arm. It shined yellow, and it lasted a couple of seconds before feeling the familiar weight on her palm. The light vanished and she stared it speechless.

Her crosier looked as always: brown wood that held magical properties, with two opposite s "reels" made out of a candy-colored metal. And, at both ends, one yellowish pedestal in half crown-shape that allowed magic to flow through it. However the light that came out of it was slightly green, but she didn't feel nothing wrong with her light magic.

Her grip on it tightened, and she proceeded to gather again more magic from her mess inside. This time, it was way easier. Her staff worked out as a filter "small enough" to wave off everything she didn't want. A couple of seconds, unlike before when she could collect every single bit of magic in an instant, she managed to carry out the same spell her staff had and summoned her bag. The heaviness made itself notice in her arm, the relief hitting her like a thousand slaps in her face. She carefully placed her staff aside her in the grass and rushed to grab the bag with both hands. She unzipped it and sighed happily. Not only the bag was just as green and complete as before, but everything she saved into was there as well.

Fingers twitching in excitement, she reached up for _The Magic of Elements_ and took it out in a flash. Lux eyed it up, still not knowing why she still hasn't taking some seconds to appreciate it. Her eyes went completely wide at seeing another and new completely book. Rather than the old notebook than before, now it was white and with gold patrons that dispersed on each cover. A locked glowed out of nowhere and it seemed like it was blocking the opening. But it still was as slim as before. She spun it over, making sure that the other side was the same before staring at the title wrote, now shining and the letters having light sparkles that pumped all the way every letter used on the cover.

She smiled; it didn't matter at the end. She spun it again and opened touched the locket in shape of a golden chain with strange easiness. She stared at the white page in front of her, astonished. Where it should be the presentation, and the little story the man wrote, it was empty. Every single word disappeared. Lux blinked, feeling uneasy.

"I did something wrong while summoning it…?" She asked to herself, not believing at all she made a mistake, but she still held it as a possibility because the book was different than before.

She held the book with just one hand and sent the other one to pick up something random inside the bag. Her hand came back, the portrait with Garen and her in the beach greeting her gaze in perfect state. She was taken aback a little by just staring at it.

She really did miss Garen, and Janna, and Ezreal, Noz, even Ekko. Miles away from where she was, far away enough to not see them ever again, probably.

The portrait disappeared inside the bag again. She didn't want to faint now.

"At least nothing's wrong with the book…" She muttered, feeling homesick.

The attention was now again on the magic book. She furrowed her lips, staring again at the white page. She sighed and switched to the next one. To her surprise, there was a kind of index on the next sheet, almost empty. The page was light golden with a frame that followed all the sides of the sheet in a flower-like way. Wrote suspiciously in a perfect way, the simply word "Index" was marked in the same elegant handwriting as before right at the top. Lux wasn't surprised. It would be stupid of her to be. At this stage, it was something normal.

Her eyes went down to the words below the Index, right into the upper-left corner. There was the tittle of the first subject, putted simply as: NATURE MAGIC with a pretty green flower beside, in the page number three. She followed below: the page number four had the tittle "What is nature magic?" the next one was "Types of nature magic" which flied her to the moon, because she thought there was just the nature magic itself and nothing else. The next one talked about the basics and then it followed one that caught her full amazement: 'Nature mode.'

Her smile widened almost creepily. But then, as if the odds just hit, all the sleepiness leaned over her head, especially her on the eyelids. She struggled without any success at it, not wanting to get some sleep, not with such knowledge in front of her.

…But the grass seemed so comfortable… Her head bumped into the tree, already deciding for her. Lux sighed and closed the book. Saving it into the bag again, she made it disappear and made sure to hug tightly her staff before lay down and the ground. Lux enjoyed the sight of the warm fire before trying to calm herself.

Fifteen minutes went by, and only with that she allowed her mind to start to fade slowly. No one was following her, no one will jump out the shadows and treat her; she actually hadn't anything to worry about; nothing immediate. And with that, her eyes closed.

She slept in calm for the first time since she could remember.

….

The calmness of the forest danced around his sensed while he jumped above the branches high in the sky. He expertly slipped with the help of his feet across the strong brown branch. Almost at the end, he jumped right to the next tree in from of him, using both hands to grab tightly another piece of wood and leaves, pulling himself up. His muscles did the job as he effortlessly spun around in order to stand up again and move.

The way at the heart of the tree was rewarded with juicy fruits that served him acting by the so-needed meal. His sharp fangs bit across the nut-looking fruit, smashing it powerfully against the rest of the teeth. Her legs rocked back and forth on the branch, using barely just one hand to hold him against the fall, and enjoying the peacefulness of the forest. Bite and bite, the time went by rather quietly. The last piece was always the best, but as soon he was about to devour it, the presence appeared.

He went still for an instant, still not knowing how anyone could sneak the senses he has among the place. His fox-shaped twitched up and moved with the rest of the head slightly below. A single blonde and petite woman was walking on the roots. He barely could have a sight of her, but even from high above he could guess she seemed tired by just looking at her posture.

" _A human?_ " The thought echoed through his mind, angriness showing bit by bit. But he figured something out. " _No… something is different. The forest… is not wary of her. It's welcoming her as though she was an old friend._ "

He watched how she dragged her feet through the grass and dirt, raising them just enough to avoid a giant root and keep going, not without letting out a small sigh almost every time she did it.

But the forest wasn't tired of her, not the slightest.

The fruit entered by his mouth and disappeared into the void of his stomach. Satisfied by the cheap meal, he grabbed the branch and pumped himself below.

Steady breath broke free from Lux's lips and she kept on walking. The weight on her shoulder thanks to her bag didn't make the process any easier. She switched it to the other shoulder, complaining with long-tired sighs. Then, her mind decided it was done. She fell down on the grass, bumping her butt on the ground painfully. A tree held her back magically and her head as well. She allowed her eyelids to squint just a little, making the sunlight way nicer to see. Her staff rolled out to her side.

It has been more than two weeks since Lux got to Ionia through its coast, and since then, the most important thing she had done was just trying to tame her magic again. She did manage to summon her staff and the other bag, but that was the only important spell her light magic seemed to allow her to do. The days went by just reading her cool book about elements and writing on her diary. The rest was just eating, doing her dirty stuff after that (God, she was so ashamed) and sleeping on the ground. Whenever she found a river or a stream big enough, she washed her clothes and body.

"I'm not liking this." She muttered, remembering those times when she was sent to missions that involved forest and a long stay on them.

It wasn't like she now didn't like forest, but…

"GOD, I need a warm bath!" Lux cried almost with to sorrow. "And a BED."

She was no longer used to live like this. She had lost her mission-shape. When camping would seem like a piece of cake to the old Lux, the new one loosened up and decided she rather a good bed than sleeping on the dirty ground. Yes, she may have the feeling to just plant her feet in the dirt and go on with it before, but she was actually feeling bad for getting tired and tired of the same stuff 24/7.

The wind howled, briefly touching her smooth skin that managed to survive to the devastation. Lux felt sad.

"Don't waste your time with me." She spoke aloud, almost not high enough to be qualified as strong words. The forest did enough for just accepting her.

"Why should I?"

Lux snapped out harshly and almost horribly from her spacing-out time. Her hand shot to her staff and picked it up along with her body, turning around where the voice came from, her tiredness evaporating immediately. Her serious face twisted at seeing what was in front of her.

What it seemed like a male version of Ahri, was actually just a meters away from her, with the difference that it didn't had too much human features. He had, like, nine tails that were swaying, white as snow. All of his skin was covered with white and tiny animal hair, and of course, the whiskers and the fox ears. Nonetheless, it was one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen. She feel how oddly, second by second, the more she gazed at him, the more she felt attracted. The word started to get pink.

" _But he could be the enemy! Put yourself together!"_ The voice inside her head stabbed right into her logic sense, kicking back into her senses again.

Lux's posture changed to a fading one; to one she would call it as a… safer one. Something in his eyes changed, recognizing what she just did. The mage narrowed her eyes, looking at the playful smile on his sweet-looking lips. Did she just almost fell for a charming spell?

"Who are you and why you tried to jinx me?" She asked steadily, pointing dangerously her staff at the fox, who raised both hands in self-defence.

"Woah, chill down, girl." He said, his voice sounding good as well. That fact didn't surprise Lux. Did he was made to be so handsome, just like Ahri? "You see… I was just walking and it slipped out. Yeah, that."

Lux resisted the urge to curse at his poor excuse, but she couldn't help to frown. She analysed again the man, or animal. She had seen people like him before, not just in her old missions, but even more when she got into the League of Legends. Nami, for example, was a mermaid, or at least that was the closest word to describe her. Then, there was Malphite: a bunch of living rocks (hurt). She shouldn't be surprised, but yet, the man had something different from the rest. He didn't seem hostile, though.

"I wasn't born yesterday. What do you want?" Lux answered; the warm light no longer coming out from her staff, her arms closed. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Well that's what I do to all humans I run into." He admitted without any shame, shrugging. Lux's lips frowned. "The way they twist magic gets me sick. But you are different."

"Different how?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

The fox smirked with sharp teeth, right after disappearing in a burst of spiral blue flames. Lux didn't feel surprised at feeling his voice right behind her, his left arm hugging her upper front.

"Different… interesting." He spoke, sighing. The blonde's demeanour fell apart in a flash and a pink blush covered her cheeks. "As if, I could totally like you."

"Uh…" She rambled. "Sorry but… Uh- I'm not into animals, you know."

The forest howled with the wind, making the silence that came up after more… dense. At not hearing a response, Lux turned around and took one step away for him, watching the dumb face of the guy. He stared at her some seconds, not seeming to process what she just said.

"Animal?" He muttered, the words coming out from his breath sounding extremely offended. His eyes snapped out from confusion, to something Lux wasn't entirely sure. "Well, you're pretty badmouthed, I see."

"What?!" She cried, looking for safeness again into her staff. "Says the one who charmed me to do whatever kind of stuff you were planning to do!"

"You're so full of yourself, did you know?" He teased, the tails behind him rocking, as if they were in synchrony with his cockiness.

"You just said you liked me." She pointed out, annoyed.

"Did I? Well, I guess I did it." He dismissed her words like they were just wind.

Lux stood there, glaring at him for a couple of seconds, not knowing what to really say. He stood there as well, smirking at her. She blinked.

"Well, if that's it, then I'm leaving." She spoke, picking her bag from the ground that fell off her shoulder after standing up abruptly, everything in front of his surprised eyes. "Bye."

"Hold a sec!" He called out, reaching up from her wrist and stopping her to take even one step. Lux turned around and paid him just one glance before switching at the hand on her skin. Her face twisted funnily and slapped it away with her free hand. "Auch."

"What? I really need to go."

"What's your name?" He asked, using another charming smile of his own.

Lux frowned for what it seemed like the hundred time of that day.

"You can call me Lux. Happy? I gotta go!" She feinted to turn around, but again she was stopped, this time with two tails surprisingly long enough to block her path. Her hand found itself right stroking it without any intentions to do it. It was soft.

She was pulled back and turned around.

"Alright, Lux, where are you going?" He asked, watching with amusement at the somewhat raped face of the blonde.

"Do you always interrogate your preys or what?" She asked sassily, breaking free from the tails with not too much force as she would like. They were too flawless to even try and damage them.

"No, I usually just kill them and I'm done." The words came out from his mouth naturally. Lux cringed a little, showing away bad memories coming from her mind. "But you ain't filthy. You're way better than them."

"Um," She smiled half-heartily, the wave of compliments getting her uneasy. "How come?"

His blue eyebrows raised slightly, a hint of knowing showing all in the eyes.

"…More attractive, of course."

As son the words were registered by Lux's ears, she took three steps away from him in order to calm down the unnerving feeling pumping out of her eyes. Her postured switched to the most awkward she held in her repertory and raised her finger, pointing at him.

"Quit it! Whatever you're planning, it won't work!" She chirped, the man in front of her smiling at her in response. The mage took a deep breath and straightened her back, gathering her normal senses back again. "Anyways! Why do you even care? It's not like I'll answer you just like that."

"Well, you see," He hummed gracefully, scratching his head with one tail in a way she would call so damn cocky. "I've got this feeling your lost, yeah."

Awareness smashed painfully on her consciousness, forcing her to stare at her dirty clothes and some scratches on them. She spotted her messy hair and how her stomach was actually getting nauseous of just eating fruit and vegetables. And of course, there was that _faint_ smell that could be sensed if one got too close.

Somehow, the shame wasn't big enough this time to make her blush. She simply managed to reject the embarrassing blood on her cheeks. Her unhappy face said the opposite, though.

"Fine, mock on me. I'll just stand here." She choked almost in a nasty way.

"You think that bad of me?" He asked, putting both hands in where it was supposed to be his heart. Lux couldn't tell, though, he was so rude.

"Why, yes!" She pouted.

He snickered brightly, shaking her hair slightly. Lux touched unconsciously her hair, stroking it with attention as she gazed the perfect locks of blue hair of the dude in front of her. She was now one hundred present his hair was better than hers.

"So tell me ASAP where you going!" He insisted again. The blonde glared at him, bluffed.

Again, she couldn't feel nothing wrong about him.

"I'm just looking for some, uh, urbanization?" She said slowly, still not knowing what she was exactly looking for. The frowned expression of him made her wary. "What?"

"Do you realize that the closest city is about, I don't know, eighty kilometres away from here?" He said, fighting against the need of laugh at the dumbstruck face of Lux. "Where are still close to the coast."

"What?!" She screamed high-pitched. He covered his ears with some tails instantly, furrowing his features. "It couldn't be! I've been walking two weeks all here!"

His analysing eyes went unnoticed by her, lost in the realization she may've walking on circles all along. He had a pretty good explanation of it, but it was better to just swallow it.

"Wanna ride? Not every day such a sexy man walks you, uh?" He said, making a cool pose with flexing arms and face

"Will you take me with you?" She asked, hope tinting her words. "By the end of the day? I mean, you can use that cool move with your flames! Right?!"

"Sure thing!" He said, smiling. But then he raised his eyes up, watching the sky and how the sun was making its way towards the horizon. "But it's getting late; and I'm not skipping my sleeping hours, nope!"

"Wait, what?" She asked dumbfolly, staring at the sky as well. "But it isn't that late, we should keep on!" She pleaded, reaching up for his arm and starting to try drag him, but it was impossible. He stood there like a statue.

"Ah, don't be like that." He mocked her, patting Lux's head. "We'll get up at the first sunray of tomorrow."

Lux then proceeded to drop the limb as if it was venom and crossed her arms tightly below her breast, receiving a curious stare. She could pretty much ditch the furry guy and keep moving; the night didn't bother her at all and she was sure she could stay awake for a couple of hours more.

" _But we've been here two weeks and we still hadn't got out of here._ " She countered her own thoughts, and she has to agree with.

It was stupidly ironic that her, out of all people whom could possible got dumped down into this forest, was actually having trouble finding the exit. Every corner of it seemed the same, and her magic wasn't cooperating. The farthest she could sense vibrations didn't reach the end of the woods, and despite she has been moving, she hasn't got any progress. Something was up, and it frustrated her to be unable to figure it out.

A sigh escaped from her lips, showing up her agreement. He cheered in response, his tails mimicking his behaviour.

"Alright, but you better not be lying!" She warned.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Lux nodded, satisfied with the answer and spun around. Her mind quickly analysed the environment, looking for possibly places to hit the hay, to make some fire and even thinking about where to put her bag. As she tried spot some dry wood, he got ahead on work and strolled through the place, till stopping right in front of a random brown and big tree.

"Here is a good place, come!" He called out for her, rising one hand. Lux snapped out of her frenzy and sighted him. "Come, come!"

She walked at him, watching in confusion the tree. She expected a secret trapdoor to open and lead both right into the fox realm, but nothing happened. He just sat down and used his tails to make a confortable spot to rest. He then looked up at her and patted the ground right beside him, where a couple of tails made another spot, allegedly for her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, raising one eyebrow. "Do you really expect us sleeping there?"

"Of course, it's really comfy!" He answered and patted down the ground hardly this time. "Just get down there already. This spot it's just for you."

"I don't see my name on it." She replied stubbornly, shaking her head. "Neither yours; wait, you still hadn't told your name to me. How's it?"

He smiled at her playfully.

"I'll tell you if you come. Deal?"

Lux's lips frowned, not liking a bit what she was hearing. At the end, she was forced to do as he said. Sighing dramatically, she crouched down and got to the grass using her hands as support, putting her bag beside her. She hugged her legs and pushed them against her chest. She twisted a little her head and paid a glance to him and then to the tails, asking silently again if it was okay. He nodded. Lux dragged her both on the grass and leaned over the tails with extreme delicacy, afraid of breaking them. Not only had they felt strong, but soft. So soft.

"Takeo. My name is Takeo." He spoke aloud, getting himself comfortable on his own space.

Lux shoot him a glance, expecting a lying sing somewhere on his face, but or either it was hidden or either it was true. She side-tracked her eyes, facing the green shining grass. The tiredness hit her and decided to take her to sleep. Back rested on the tails, and feeling a little surprised to accepting them so easily, she decided to close her eyes, hoping to fall asleep soon.

Takeo eyed her out through the corner of his eye, taking notice of her still body and how her face seemed way more peaceful than before. Then, his eyes shined blue just slightly and all the word around him flashed white just in one instant before dozens and dozens of colours appeared in the air. A great deal were about green streams going over the place, dancing around the trees and getting itself lost on the leaves or sinking in the earth. But all of those green streams never did their stuff before moving close to Lux.

He admired with fascination a white, pure light orb right inside Lux. It shined on and on, and it was interacting in a strange way somehow with a dark energy around it. It was an obscure cape that got chunks of it burned by light rays every second, and yet as some disappeared, some appeared again. Despite this, Takeo wouldn't categorize it as… a fight between both magic. He has never seen something like that before; not only light and dark magic in the same place before nothing blowing up, but also the green magic rotating around it, trying to approached carefully, as if it feared to be rejected. It was like seeing a weird solar system, a beautiful one. Some sparks actually managed to overcome the dark and light magic presence, and joined them together, disappearing inside the orb.

" _Such a control in magic…"_ He mused, completely stunned. " _And she is not even trying… The magic is doing this by itself?_ "

He smiled, his lips dry. He stopped for his own sake, closing his eyes and switching back to the normal sight. Eyes open again, he eyed her up.

" _Damn, I never thought I would be ever attracted to another woman._ "

If Lux mind wasn't that withered enough to allow her to sleep quickly, she wouldn't be able to hear another couple of words released in the air.

"You've always been this… talented in magic?" He started talking, the words tasting raspy in Lux's mouth.

She didn't open her eyes right away. She waited for her mind to turn on before toss around the tails. The eyelids finally rose up, leaving a lazy gaze on sight. Why he was talking now, after insisting so much on sleep? Was he trying to get to know her? But as her mind turned on, she decided to put it on standby. She was getting a headache.

"That's correct. I've been called a prodigy since I was born." She answered idly, not feeling the need to lie. "And I assume you can sense or see magic, right? I don't remember telling you nothing about it."

She didn't have to turn around to know he was smiling.

"You're quite clever." He praised. She buffed. "Yeah, yeah, you're right."

"This is an ability you only have? Or it isn't that rare?" She muttered, grabbing tentatively one piece of white fur with her fingers. She didn't miss the soft purr coming out from his lips in response. It was actually adorable.

"Well, it's indeed very common on our kind." He finally continued the chat, hiding the blush on his cheeks.

"What do you mean by that?" She laid it on the lane, frowning. "Fox… kind?"

"No, pretty much everyone here in, well, the woods. Those… non-human." He mumbled.

Lux tried to cope with the fact that he wasn't telling her everything. She failed.

"What aren't you telling me?" She spoke up to him, turning around but not daring to leave the grass below. Both eyes connected: light-blue and blue. "Tell me."

"You're not from here, I assume…" He rambled. "Well, you know. Have you ever seen people half human and half animal?"

"Wait, what? I've never- Wait." She stopped in middle tracks.

Has she ever seen people like that? She found herself very surprised at thinking her answer: of course. Mostly in her time while in the League of Legends. Champions like Nami, Rengar, Wukong are some obvious examples; God, even Ahri. As far she knew, all of them were from Ionia, but Nami. Do they have abilities like that? Rengar and Wukong were a little doubtful, but Nami and Ahri could perfectly fit on that accusation.

"I've actually seen them!" She said excitedly at the thought of learning more. "But surely not all of them have got this magic sense ability, right?"

"That's right." Takeo smiled, nodding. "Some have it, some not. Mine's quite better than everyone's. Not all of them can see magic as easily as I can, but yes, even in a small capacity."

"And all Vastaya people are from Ionia?" She said with curiosity.

"Every single of them emerged right from here, but not all of them are actually here right now. Some flee away and found other places to stay, away from the humans." He explained slowly, this time his voice changing at the final words. "The humans had… repressed us since long time ago, and nowadays we're still having trouble dealing with them."

"But wait," Lux cut him off, this time sitting correctly and paying him attention. "You sound like this problem has now tons of years on it. How old are the Vastaya?"

"We've born in the Great Void War, when a group of humans fled into the forest and met our kind. But before that, we're called Vastashai'rei." Takeo responded patiently. "Or at least that's what I was taught."

After finishing speaking, the fox watched with attention how the information seemed to go inside Lux's ears and how it pored over the info with an unnerving intensity. He could even imagine the gears running inside her head at seeing those eyes. And when it seemed she was about to speak again, he end her up first.

"We should sleep now. The sun is almost gone." He hummed absently, letting his head fall on the tails and closing his eyes without doubting.

Left in middle speaking, Lux shot him an annoyed glance before snorting and resting down as well. Her hands lied down on her lap and she fought her worn out eyes. She paid a last glance above her, the delightful sight of the trees and its leaves calming her down. The last she saw was the sun hiding again.

" _I can't believe he cut me off._ " The though popped up before sleeping.

Eyes closed, she allowed the surrounding and new darkness taking control of her without hesitation. She felt oddly how her consciousness was being taken away and being replaced by a comforting sensation. It was only her, sat down, in the darkness. Her ears ringed and a tiny oppression appeared on her eyeballs. A couple of seconds later, without her noticing, her eyes went open again.

Lux breathed deeply through her nose, but silently. The first thing she noticed she was actually lying down on the ground, her head resting on one white tail, sideways. She twisted her body, stretching every limb of it and got on her butt, making sure to not crush any tail, still afraid. She turned her head around and watched the sleepy face of Takeo lying down just like her seconds ago. She didn't know why she thought she would be very much alone at the moment she'd wake up, but yet her suspicions were dumb.

She snapped out and looked around for her green bag, taking out one fruitangle. Her stomach kicked annoyingly inside, tired of eating the same stuff, but her tongue protested loudly. The flavour was still exceptional. She grabbed a bite and then swallowed. She sighed. They needed to move.

Switching the fruit to her free hand, she used the other one to approach just a little closer to Takeo to clap his cheek softly. She may did it more than needed, but his face was really soft. Maybe softer than hers. She frowned, this time caressing quietly his cheekbones.

"Let me know when you're done."

Lux's hand was slapped back with an invisible force that she may imagine. The intruder were hugged between her breast as she stared nervously as how the fox stretched like her before lazily sitting down with the help of his tails. He gave her a morning smile.

"You know, if you wanna touch me, you just should've asked." He teased, stealing a scandalized stare from her.

"I-it wasn't like that!" She chirped in response, breaking eye contact with him. She fished out another fruitangle from her bag and handled it over to him maybe too fast. "Just eat this, and we keep going."

"Oh, cool!" He answered cheerily, receiving the fruit and devouring it with his fangs lively. Such a sight that in any case wouldn't be pleasant. But the privileges of being beautiful did its charms.

Lux's gaze turned away as she stood up, finishing to stretch her body. The blonde tried really hard to find something to dawdle with, but the forest was already getting on her nerves. So she chose instead to watch again at the fellow. The way he ate, the way the tails moved and the gracefully way he just existed. All of it just screamed Ahri.

"Hey, just out of curiosity…"She said suddenly, the bug of curiosity infecting her from inside. He, half way eating the meal, paid her a glance. "It could be that… you have a sibling? A sister, maybe?" She asked.

She didn't miss the dumbstruck expression Takeo gave her.

"What? Where did that come from?" He questioned, forgetting completely the fruit and proceeding to scrutinize her silhouette. He suddenly went up and in front of her, staring.

Lux immediately felt smaller and instinctively tensed, magic focusing on the end of her fingers, ready to fight. She waited a couple of seconds, but it wasn't a tail which came down aiming for her; she just faced another surprised face.

"Woah, sorry, I didn't mean upset you!" He apologized quickly, taking one step back and raising both hands in defeat, his eyes focused not on hers but her chest. And something could tell that he wasn't looking at her breasts (thank God?).

She puzzled.

"It's okay…" She breathed woozy, clapping slightly her head with one hand. "I-I don't know what happened. Sorry, I just… thought I went too far. I won't ask you anymore." She assured, smiling weakly.

"Don't worry," he said nonchalantly, but not doing any attempt to move closer to talk in a proper way.

The guilt tossed all around her heart, making it to ache slightly. She was really damaged, wasn't she? What are the odds, making to believe her brain that every single person out there is dangerous, and that she should be always prepared to strike back?

"No, wait!" She cried, deleting again the odd distance between them. "I really mean it! I should really make it up to you!" She beamed, standing up right in front of him. "Tell me! What do you want?"

Takeo shifted a little, self-conscious. His senses twitched, feeling how the aura that she gave off changed from dangerous to a one he couldn't decipher. The magic she exuded was tempting him in not a good way.

" _She is not even noticing it. This only will get her in trouble_ " he thought uncomfortably, smiling nonetheless. "Don't sweat it; I'm fine."

That answer seemed to annoy even more the girl. She stood there, cramming him intensely by her stare.

"Liar!" She screamed, shaking off any thought about even believing him. She smiled with foreboding. "You look curious, pretty much! I can tell because of your look seconds ago!" The words were barked off her mouth.

Takeo grimaced.

"You're so cheeky, did you know?" He answered grumpily, crossing arms. "It doesn't matters. I know what already need to know."

"Wait, no, this is supposed when I pay you back." She said, her mouth spread open with drama. "You can't fool me. What do you know? Tell me. Maybe you know her name is…"She paused on porpused, trying to catch his attention. Failed. "…Ahri?"

His head rose up like a bullet being shot.

"What did you just said?" He asked in a unbelievable way, leaning over just a little. "Ahri? What, she?"

Lux dangled lazily on her feet, rocking along a Sona's random song inside her head, satisfaction slithering all over her back. While she enjoyed being now the little universe of Takeo's attention, his mind, in the other hand, were a mass of frenetic thoughts about Lux.

Ahri wasn't a normal name, of course. He remembered his tribe had a very old tradition about naming its members with special names that always held a meaning with. Of course, names with a special meaning weren't anything new; specifically in Ionia, but their names were different thanks to a simple fact: they were made out of his own tribe's language. And of course, the fact that he barely remembered about having a sister helped out his currently thoughts.

Ahri meant graceful and elegant, in a twisted way. Her sister was graceful and elegant, right? That was enough. He thought everyone else was dead. Why she hasn't showed up? Has she been looking for him? Just like he used to do before giving up?

"Yesss." She answered innocently, her eyes sparkling. "And she is like your clone, but feminine!" Lux said in a hushed voice, as if she was saying the gossip of the year. "What, you're acting like you've never seen her! What's the matter?"

Every word squeezed its way into Takeo's ear, triggering him deeply. He did his best trying to hide it.

"Uh…" He messed up.

"What?! Really?! That's impossible!" The blonde beamed almost angrily, waving her hands off and not standing still at all. "She's at the League of Legends! After she joined, she had been staying there pretty much." She explained. And of course, she saved to herself her own suspicions about why Ahri prowled around there often. Maybe because the Institute gave her the so-loved human essence she liked so much. It was disturbing, but not impossible.

"The what?"

Lux stopped her explosive state of emotions and gazed him with one eyebrow raised. He was joking?

"The League of Legends." She said, this time way slower in order to allow him to understand.

"I'm rather sure I've never heard that name before." He stated firmly.

Something weighted down her stomach after hearing that. Lux hugged it and stared at Takeo as if he was insane, mental, stupid, dumb, a prankster. Something was wrong.

"You seriously don't know them?" She asked, completely baffled. She leaned her head a little over her side, making the question more powerful. "Do you live in a box?"

Takeo seemed offended for the first time she met him.

"Hey, no need to be rude!" He complained, trying to sound loud to make his presence bigger, but his soft voice was troublesome. "Of course I don't know that League of what! First time I hear of them."

Lux almost followed with another question filled with incredulity, but her mind kicked in and stopped her right in tracks. There's no way someone hadn't never heard about the League of Legends, especially because they had been out there for a while. Maybe the first days after their first appearance, but now? Enough time went by; how come it?

" _Maybe he's just a little dumb._ " She thought, trying to answer the predicament. " _He may be a hermit of the forest."_

" _That's no sense. Look at his clothes: those definitely aren't homemade. They're too much elaborated._ " The voice inside answered. Lux paid attention: He was wearing some delicate-looking white shorts that taken up barely enough to cover up to his knees. Its borders were skirted with an additional layer of red fabric with yellow inscriptions on it. His upper body's clothing was connected with the shorts in an elegant way thanks to and golden and red belt that held a medium-sized emblem on his left side. His shirt was completely made out of red layers that moved on each other consequently, covering up his entire chest, and switching to white ones nearing the collarbones. His arms were naked but his forearms, which were being used by red and white muff with the same style of the belt, its rear being pointy and golden. His arms used fingerless white gloves that attached very well to the skin. And lastly, he was wearing red-white sandals with just a little of platform.

Takeo raised one eyebrow at her unapologetic eyeing-up.

" _Maybe he's just very good at tailoring._ " Lux argued. " _Maybe his family gave them to him._ "

" _He doesn't seem to have a family, judging by his reaction before. Just quit it and shut it down. You don't have anything to do with the League of Legends now._ "

"Maybe I got it wrong…?" She said, her face changing completely to a confused one in a perfect way. "I could've sworn…" She said, puffed.

"You could?" He said in a mockingly way. Lux's analysis told her he didn't buy it. "So where's this League of Legends?"

" _ABORT MISSION._ " She said to herself, her façade almost fainting. She swallowed back a sigh, deciding to ignore what the voice inside her head said. She was supposed to stop acting like that. "It's very far away from here; but hey, you know what? As a payment, I'll take you there someday." Lux said, waving it off nonchalantly. "It doesn't seem like you care that much."

"Damn, you're cold, uh." Takeo whined painfully, his tails swaying to his beat.

She smiled crookedly.

"I've been told a lot." He answered, assuring her bag onto her shoulder. "Now let's go at once!"

The fox trilled tiredly, nodding with her. He raised both his arms to her.

"Alright. Get on."

Lux stared and him, then peered down at his arms. Then she stared at him questioningly, raising one eyebrow. She wasn't getting carried by bridal-style. The irony would appear and smash her to the ground in a homesick way.

"Come on, this way is faster." He insisted, rocking both arms slightly in a poor intent to encourage her to do it.

"I can walk perfectly." She countered stubbornly, frowning. "You don't have to worry. Let's just move." She dismissed him and strode throughout the way, passing by Takeo and getting ready to swarm up on a particular big root.

She did the job successfully, but frowned again at not feeling anyone behind her. Lux wheezed in annoyance and spun around, finding none other than the sight of a human-fox smirking at her, still in the same spot.

"Are you serious?!" She screamed, walking all the way back with some trouble. She resisted the desire to swipe Takeo's face full of mock glee.

"Don't be a wimp." He chocked in laughter. "My arms are veery comfy."

Her face twisted in a tired tantrum, her body shuddering in annoyance. Her mind got fed up and came up with tons of sarcastic comments and even cruel and insulting words. But she stopped herself right in time. Old Lux, go away. She could be… nicer.

"...Fine." She muttered, not having enough energy to put up with him.

Takeo raised one brow. She ignored it. Lux approached him and stared with doubt both his arms. She took one step closer, and walked in between them, twisting a little, not very sure what to do next. She spun around, no longer facing him and rested her hand on his shoulder, pulling her body upwards just a little. Takeo grabbed her quickly and she was being carried bridal-style. Sickness punched her.

"You won. Do whatever you want." Lux hissed venomously, pressing her lips together as she frowned.

"Aw, don't get angry. Just hold tight." He said devilishly, and flexed his legs. What?

At the moment when her whole sight twisted thanks to the sudden move downwards and then upwards, Lux screamed loudly at feeling the air pressing against her face. Her hands reached up for something to hold on and grabbed the Takeo's neck in a death grip. She didn't feel how her nails sunk just a little into his skin, and how his face twitched a bit, she was more focused on her stare at below, right where she was seconds ago.

She was a couple of meters above, in the high trees, and moving. Her mind almost blacked out, trying to understand what just happened, when she caught the frame of a couple of tails pressing against the wood, and pulling both of them forwards speedy. Then, blue magic surrounded them out of blue, the same patron of spirals dancing around. Lux's lips got shaped in a perfect "o".

" _The spirit rush!_ " Lux cried excitedly inside her head as she moved her head around, blue eyes sparkling with innocence.

The tails swarmed up some branches, dodged the giant trees that got in their way and moved in harmony with the cool breeze that was against their direction. All around her switched to lights out to beautiful lit thanks to the sunrays coming from above, some of them blocked by the coloured domes out of leaves.

They didn't stop after a couple of minutes. Lux enjoyed the sight as she piled up the best moments in her mind. Third place was that one moment went they almost bumped in right into a flock of blue and green birds; Takeo dodged them flawlessly with a move of his tails, sending them high in the air, coming out from the trees momentarily. The second moment was that one, when she admired the sun hitting her face like drunk hangnail, but the intensity of the feeling twisted in a good way. The first and best moment snapped on her right after starting falling from the sky, getting inside the trees again. The area was a new whole zone of trees. The rate as they feel slowed down a little, and she sighted tons of trees that had a bunch of freckled colours in every leave, almost making her think they were shining. Her ears registered absently the sound of a river somewhere close to them as they glided in the air.

An infinitely amount of colours flooded up her eyes, getting her dizzy to the bone. The trees started to get precarious; so much that she turned her head around to sneak over Takeo's shoulder to behind her. Her eyes felt hypnotic, and she didn't stopped gazing back till they suddenly stopped moving.

Lux frowned and made her eyes fit questioningly to the fox. He raised one eyebrow.

"We're here. Don't you feel like to get down?" He said slowly.

Lux shook her head.

"No-no, another round, please!" She asked with a excited smiled, stirring her body and getting even more comfortable on his grip somehow.

He stared at the woman, which minutes ago, was extremely reluctant to even approach him, showing off her puppy-eyes in an attempt to convince him.

"You choose. You get down or I drop you." He smiled unapologetically. Lux snorted.

She dropped her grip out of his neck as if suddenly it was somehow hurting her and buzzed away from him. Paying attention around for the first time, she then noticed that the forest-like trees, the ones who have got those weird magic feeling, and delicious fruits growing up on them, were almost gone. Instead, green-normal ones started appearing, some brown, some oranges, but something that she would qualify as plain simple. Below her there was a stone path that covered up two directions: one into the forest where she came from, and another to keep going into the clearing, nearing the end of it.

And finally she could breathe freely. The feeling of the woods on her dissipated just enough to starting being comfortable and not… mood changing.

Lux frowned.

"We weren't that close to the exit of the forest, right?" She asked aloud, still looking around.

He chuckled.

"Well, spiritually, no." He answered cryptically. "Yep, the forest really likes you."

Lux's eyes went wide open, realization washing all over her senses. She couldn't help but glare into the forest accusingly, almost blurting out the need to an explanation. Thank God she resisted, or else she'll start to make herself famous for not being a spy, but a plant-talker.

"That explains why I couldn't reach the end, despite walking days and days, and me being someone who does _not_ ever walk in circles." She muttered, annoyed.

But she couldn't stay angry. She sighed. He smiled, already sensing her magic around her. He peeked at the orb inside again. It was pretty much the same, but the nature magic stopped running around of the orb, and instead crammed around it. She was storing some magic up.

"Well, it's done already." She sighed, spinning her body and gazing at the open area again. Sharpening her gaze enough, she could even see good glimpses of a city, not too much far away. Joyfulness bubbled up all through her chest. She couldn't wait.

"Before I go, I want to give you something." She spoke, facing again the fox, smiling.

Not waiting for an answer, she gathered some nature magic warily, still not having the whole control on it back again. Takeo watched with entertainment how she ducked down and injected some green magic on the grass. A couple of seconds later, slowly and gradually, a green flower started growing up. Lux's face fought against the tiredness, being ridiculously way harder to grow a tiny flower than a root as she thought. The flower rose up and it took the similar aspect of a daisy, its petals being green and sparkling-like. The flower shined a couple of moments before the gloom fading away. Lux grabbed it delicately by the stalk and took it out of the earth without making any sound, as if the plant wasn't attached to it in first place.

Takeo's ears perked up when she handled it over to him. He could feel magic on the flower.

"Here, it'll get you together even in the toughest times." She said, excited.

He stared it a couple of seconds before stretching his arm to grab receive it. The flower fell onto his hand and immediately he felt something changing inside. His curiosity, eagerness and all kind of feeling that could possibly get him out of tracks calmed down significantly. They were still there, but he was calm. He smiled.

"Thanks." He said, putting the flower on his air to avoid breaking it.

"Oh, right, it won't break so easily; you can pocket it if you want." The blonde said upon seeing the flower on his head. "But I guess it makes you prettier."

"Even prettier than before? I thought that was impossible." He replied cockily, making her sigh. "I like it there, anyways. And I guess I can't let you go before giving you something, too."

Lux paid him a surprised glance at him and clapped both hands frenetically, a shriek coming out from her mouth.

"Cool! What's like? It shines on? Like a diamond?!" She blew up on him. "I want to see it!"

Takeo backed off a bit, taken aback by the sudden burst of her. He regained his composure and raised his hand; opening it up and making the palm face the sky.

"Loosen up a bit and gimme a sec."

Lux did as she was told. She nodded and got back normally on her feet, watching with attention. It started with a flash of blue light, the same magic acting as before. The outline of medium-sized orb started to appear magically in the air, a dreamy sound forming out of it. The transparency of it made it clear immediately as it covered up almost the triple of the size of Takeo's hand. She watched with awe the two perfect pieces fitted on each other flawlessly, forming a mark of a half-moon with a curled rug. The orb shined before blue magic took control all over it, making it to flare intensely in a blue mass of magic.

" _Just like Ahri's orb._ " She pondered, delighted.

Takeo's free hand danced around the orb while the other "held" it. His fingers stopped at some point which she was unable to see before taking out a small blue mass of magic, which quickly turned into a small wild fire. He pushed the orb aside of him, making it to simply float on the air up and down, as he focused on the fire. His hands curled up around it just a little, doing something she wasn't very sure of. Then, out of blue, he handled it over.

"Here." He spoke.

Lux blinked, puzzled.

"What?" She said, her eyes narrowing just a little, showing off her doubt.

"Well, you gave me something of your magic hence I'll give you mine's." He answered nonchalantly, as if it was the most logic course of action.

Despite knowing that something was off, the blonde didn't find any flaw on the logic. He wasn't exactly wrong, for sure.

She pressed her lips together and extended both her hands, opening both hands slowly. Takeo's fingers encouraged the flame to move to its new owner, and it did so, floating the couple of centimetres between his fingers to Lux's. Immediately, she couldn't help but notice the sudden small wave of new magic going on all her body; Takeo's. Her mouth got on an "o" shape.

"Godness…" She breathed a sigh, puffed out beyond.

Shyly, and with fear to make the flame fan out, she rocked her hands a little, watching how effectively the blue magic kept up with her.

"Don't worry, it won't vanish." He assured with a tiny smile. "It will stand with you forever either you reject it or either I decide the opposite."

Lux laughed in pure joy, now the only thing inside her head was how beautiful it was the blue fire she was holding. All inhibited feeling faded away as she played with it, making it bounce in the air along with her arms. The warmness wasn't dangerous, just plain comfortable, and it reminded her of him.

"This is… so good!" She cried, actually touched by the gift. "Thank you… I love it."

"...It's nothing. You're welcome." He said, a little embarrassed at her reaction. "Glad you liked it."

Lux's smile gradually decreased, becoming a sad one. She stopped messing around and grabbed the flame with her left hand, smashing it against her chest a second later. What it seemed like she indeed wiped it out, the magic injected in and stored inside, all under Takeo's amazed gaze. Lux sighed.

"I guess this is the goodbye." She snapped out suddenly.

He eyed her up with a blank expression, his tails stopping as well and falling down on the grass.

"I… really enjoyed this. Thanks for being my… "She stopped in middle way, unsure."…friend." She said somewhat ashamedly, not believing it.

"…No problem…" Takeo replied warily, taken aback by the change. It was obvious to him she was pained by something "I guess I'll see you around, then?" The words came out with a hope taste. After all, she has been the only person in a long time he'd been talking with this… freely.

Lux couldn't have honoured her name better. Her face got washed up by light that seemed to come from the very heavens; the smile that followed after was even brighter. That awful, heart-aching feeling that remarked horribly her face vanished in a flash of light.

She was happy.

"Of course! We'll see again!" She burst in a joyful-like appearance, jumping slightly on her feet. "This is definitely not the goodbye!"

Takeo did what was the most logical thing. Smile back and feel the same.

"It's already set on stone." He joked, moving his tails playfully.

Lux smiled again, her body being hit back again by insecurity. He didn't have any time to wonder about it before being surprised by a bone-breaker bug from her. Her arms enclosed around his chest tightly, as if she was afraid he would go. Before he could do anything, she backed off, looking relieved.

"Alright. Do not forget me or else I'll be very mad!" She cried, puzzling him even more.

She turned around and started walking away, following the stone path direction. He stood there, frozen and not feeling like to snap out of it. He watched slowly as how she disappeared from his life, wondering why she did what she did. His arms itched; she didn't let him hug her; way too slow. But…

"And you better not forget me, neither!" He screamed back, using his hands as a bullhorn.

Lux, already a small figure on the horizon, turned her head around to watch him, smiling.

"I won't!" She replied, starting to wave him off as she moved, getting farther.

Takeo watched her long enough to make it harder to even recognize her blonde hair, that's when he blinked and turned around. The forest received him again; but it didn't felt as alone as before.

Lux, stood on the grass, watched this time how his figure got lost into the woods again. She didn't let herself to feel sad; they'll be seeing each other again. Maybe tomorrow, in one week, a year; it didn't matter. The promise to see again her first friend on here was enough.

When she spun around, she focused on enjoying the walk and the breeze that came from her front. She raised both arms in the air and allowed the wind to play around them as she looked at the daisies, dandelions and weird weed growing up, some of them being non-identifiable under her gaze.

The mage tried to focus on the city and not on how it became harder and harder to see in front of her nose. Then, the dizziness kicked in her head and her whole body, making her tremble before falling apart on the stone painfully. A deep and erratic breath tried to get into her mouth, the need of oxygen being ridiculous necessary. The word started to fade.

She tried to reach for her light, desperate for help, but something happened inside. She couldn't reach it, canalize it, nothing. It just… vanished.

" _There it goes my happy ending._ " She thought dryly before darkness sucked her.

The ground beneath her disappeared and a whole new world out of blackness, which was inside her head as she assumed, appeared. Nothing past her nose could be seen and yet she could see everything. It was odd, it was like the place was being washed with light and yet it wasn't. She floated on the darkness, feeling lost. She sighed.

She wasn't afraid as the first time it happened when she was thirteen years old. That was the time which she was different, when the standard of do good and loyal to the light was buried deep into her head. The time when she thought Demacia was over everyone else, the time when she thought all people from them were right and others wrong. But now? Darkness just made her uncomfortable. Light was her first choice as always, but darkness it is necessary in some degree. Her true colours weren't immaculate as some people may think. The solo thought almost made her laugh. She wasn't innocent. She was bad.

It was becoming usual since she run away; it was like a routine. Why such a thing would become a routine to her? Things like this shouldn't be happening right now. This whole drama to get away from everyone was supposed to start with a clean slate. She didn't spend tons of hours risking her life to get a little bite of peace in her life for now having to put up with this.

But she had the opportunity to change now; this won't take her down. She had faced worst before; this was just… odd. Nothing she could handle.

"Mother was right… Magic can be a pain sometimes" She muttered, her hands hugging her legs against her chest as she back flipped slowly in the darkness , her hair expanding all over the space, suspended "But I can't hate it. I can't get blind…"

The pitch darkness went tint a faint blue out of blue. She blinked, her eyes blurry, used to see nothing before peering down at the same blue fire Takeo gifted her a couple of minutes ago. She tried to feel surprise, but she couldn't feel anything. Her fingers manoeuvred to it unconsciously, barely stroking it before it buzzed away quickly.

"Wait!" She cried, frowning, her voice echoing through the nothing.

Opposite to her beliefs, the flame didn't run away from her life as she feared; it just moved a couple of meters away, where the darkness felt strange. Suddenly, it stopped as if it was on a dead end, and then exploded brightly. Before realization could even hit her, a small and familiar light portal conjured itself not too much far away from her out of the blue light.

"…?!"

There was an exit.

She didn't think it twice before unravel herself from her own pity nest and starting to move, her body shuddering. She did everything she could come up to it. She swum, floated, and even tried to do some magic to get away from the darkness and closer to the light. She didn't want to stay long enough to get used to it, to change. She didn't want to commit any more mistakes. She was tired of that Lux.

She approached more and more to the portal, feeling how bit by bit the uneasy feeling abandoned her. His pale fingertips almost touched it. It wasn't warm, or cold as one could even think, it just gave her the feeling she needed in this moment. Some hope; the hope that has been taken off of her long time ago.

"I won't give up!" She breathed the scream that supposed to come out, fainting, and being replaced by those almost silently, but powerful words.

A horrendous shiver slipped all across her spine, sending a wave of pure uneasiness over her body. Her hand fainted.

She looked behind her, the features on her face twisting in fear, stopping moving, her fingers being just less than a centimetre away from the light. The darkness behind changed. It looked the same and yet it didn't. Something was there, close.

"No…" She whispered in dread, trembling.

A silhouette appeared between the dark. It was reaching for her; it was getting closer; it was about to take her back to black.

Green threads appeared from behind her; she only sighted them when they were already tangled around her chest. They started to pull her back into the portal. Her eyes orbits saw something purple before fading into the light. It wasn't something evil as she expected. She just had the foreboding.

When she snapped back again into the realm of the living, the sun almost burned up her corneas in a degree that grazed the ironic. Her arms went up immediately and made up a makeshift shield, saving her for a good pain. A deep breath got in and she was back.

The first thing she saw was the blue fire beside her, floating quietly in the air, accompanying her. She stared at it dumbfound, still pinned at the ground before noticing a leave appearing in her sight, then another and another. Lux blinked before looking around, noticing a small group of dry-yellowish leaves dancing around her gracefully, apparently doing the same as the fire.

She stood there; lay down for a moment, understanding what just happened.

" _Even if I don't have anyone else to rely on, my magic will never ditch me._ " She though, seeing how the blue fire finally dissipated at her will. She made sure to store it very close to her.

The leaves' weird behaviour came to an end. They swirled around her for one last time before flying quickly back into the forest, leaving her; not alone anymore.

Lux sighed, stretching all over. The city was waiting for her.

...

Walking into the city of Eríni was certainly a new whole experience for her.

She only had been on Ionia just once in her life under the façade of taking some well-deserved short vacations paid by Demacia, when actually she was having one of the most difficult missions of her life being nosy in Noxus' invasion. She didn't give a second thought to the place; she knew she hadn't place for any mistake; or else she would get herself killed.

Lux didn't remember the place being so… magical.

As she walked across one of the mains streets made out of brilliant green-like stone, her magic already hidden plus a small spell on her face to went unnoticed, the only thought of being on the city and feeling almost as much magic as like being in the forest got her on the edge. It was utopic, and just as how she exactly wanted to live.

The nature and the city were almost one. Her feet strode, almost jumping a bit, gazing around all the people… and Vastayas. The word echoed trhough her head as she paid attention to a one woman feline-like standing behind a fruit stand on the left side of the street, blurting convincing words to go and buy some fruits. The image of the woman she bought some fruits long time ago popped up on her mind; the comparison being inevitable.

No one was looking at the cat woman, not even paying her a small bit of attention; or at least the attention she would call like "a surprised one." It was pretty much normal here. She recalled the first time she saw someone like them; she screamed, and very loud. And let's not even talk about first time seeing a yordle. Of course, with some time, she got somewhat used to them, but never at the degree of the Vastaya people at the League. People like Nami were constant in her life. There wasn't one single time in the week she didn't see her, either on the Institute or a random match.

But here, those strange people proliferate.

The heaviness on her jean pockets made itself clearer as she gazed around all the different stands. From fruits, she switched to dolls, then to books, to some beautiful Jewellery (still not better than her grandma's necklace), and even a creepy stand which sold potions.

The marked zone didn't last as much as she may want. Swarming through the crowd, she moved to the circular and silver fountain that was in the middle of the street, marking the end of market. She sat down on one of the edges, crossing her edges as she watched the people going back and forth, enjoying herself.

Those fruits in her bag won't last forever; and she was already getting tired of eating them. Right now, she was homeless and practically a poor. A job would come in handy.

But what and where? She can't imagine herself working on something that wasn't being a spy or at least fighting people over and over. That was what she did in the League of Legends, after all.

"A normal job would be great…" She hummed, caressing her fake black hair under her light magic. Her face was still the same, her sloppy light magic's doing.

She looked around the place. She was still in the commerce zone; there was a lot of movement here. A couple of gazes and she already saw one restaurant specialized on fish, tons of kiosk quite separated from each other and some fancy boutiques. All of them being potential places to work.

"Well, time to get on it."

…

Her first attempt was miserable.

She may have been a little egoist at only choosing places she personally liked at first sight, but after a first glance at one creepy and horrendous-smelling like bar, she knew a place like that won't do any good. So, after abandoning the fountain, she steadied her grab on her bag and started moving through the people. Her first try was that restaurant specialized in fishes. It looked elegant and cleaned; a place she could work with. She moved at the main door, looking through the glasses inside and, effectively, catching with sight a sing which said "employee wanted."

After gathering some courage watching the green tree into a small stone square on the dirt in front of the windows, she grabbed the yellow doorknob and spun it slightly, opening the door to outside. A small bell sound ringed through her ears, and she entered in. A first glance through the place told her that it was medium-sized.

She walked somehow weirdly, dodging the brown tables and chairs on the floor. Some people eyed her up, some didn't. She plasticized her trustworthy smile on her face and walked to the old-looking bar zone, passing by the chandelier on the stone arc above. She spotted a man that was cleaning up the marble from the other side. His bored face said everything.

"Excuse me…"

As soon as her words left her mouth, the man's gaze went up quickly. Then, she noticed the slightest of frowns on his brows. A normal person wouldn't ever be able to saw through his neutral face, but yet she wasn't normal.

"I'm here because the sign on the door." She continued at seeing she wasn't a response. Just that stare that irritated even more. What he was even looking?

"Oh, it's that?" He said, looking away and grabbing one empty coup to clean it. She was fairly sure it was clean, and that he just did it to not see her. "I'm sorry." He eyed her up with his brown eyes, shaking slightly his head. Rude. "You don't fit."

Lux's faked face twisted in hidden anger. She resisted the urge to blow up on him and tried to calm himself.

"I didn't even get a proper interview." She almost hissed, her smile fading. Her stern face shone. "It's unfair."

"As I've told you before…"He started, even daring to spread some sarcasm on his words. "You simply don't fit in a place like this. You're… precarious."

Her mask exploded painfully on his pride. She peered down and then noticed her clothes, horribly damaged thanks to the amazing but vindictive trip to here. She actually looked like a poor, even so that her grandma's collar didn't do justice. Well, it just was turned around, and it looked plain simple from behind.

" _Still…_ " She thought, narrowing her eyes. Her hand moved slowly back to hide in front of her butt. "I understood. Sorry for wasting your time." She said emotionlessly.

She turned around and walked away with loud steps. She grimaced dangerously like Cassiopeia at one couple who glared at her, and stormed out the place without looking back.

"I'm not getting paid for dealing with this, damn." The bartender complained to himself, amused. "Can't believe she thought we would hire a poor."

A sharp sound crashed right behind him, making his back twitch in surprise. Some people peered at the bar as he turned around; the sight that greeted him got him sick.

Splashed against the floor, there were pairs of one of the most expensive wines and alcohol bottles of the restaurant. Wide-mouthed, he looked at the half-empty racks on the mosaic wall, specifically at the root which appeared from nowhere, broke through the wall and pushed out the bottles.

"What the fuck?!"

…

Lux lost control on her body and allowed it to bump on the bench beside the shining streetlight, her muscles immediately aching in some satisfaction at getting rest. She sighed, her light spell fading away. Her hair went blond and all her face features softened. No one gazed to catch her red-handed, and she was very much glad for it.

Her head rested on the board and stared into the stellated sky, feeling sick.

Her job hunt turned out to be a complete disaster. Every single place she got off to, her presence seemed to create an unpleasant aura that made every possible boss reject her. She hated admitting it, but she hadn't the most expensive clothes on her, and her face actually looked bad. Plus, she might admit that she's got a _little_ smell.

"Oh my God. I can't go looking around for a job like this…" She whined, her face wagging painfully. Her arm raised and she approached to it tentatively with her nose leading the way. She backed off, pale. "…"

Her arm fell into the bench again; she didn't care that it hurt. Another sigh broke free from her lips, forcing her neck back again into its normal place again. She stared into the darkness, wondering if she whether would find a job or fail miserably and starve. Then, a streetlight flickered.

Her eyes practically dragged throughout her basins, lazier as she would've liked. A saloon in the middle of the street block suddenly made itself aware into her head. She glanced to it, straightening and can't help but drilling with her eyes the very simple "hiring" sing. Her mind told her no, but her hungry body told her yes.

She got up to her feet and strode a couple of steps, stopping just a couple of steps in front of it, ignoring the people she almost bumped into. Some folks paid her a curious glance, clearly attracted to her shining appearance, to then just end it in a grimace thanks to the smell. But she couldn't care less at this point. She would regret at the moment she get a proper shower, though.

The tavern was actually the place, and a big one. She climbed the couple of stairs to the main double wooden door and peeked around the gothic walls. Even from outside, she could hear all the noise going on inside along with constant glass knocks and laughter.

Lux looked around with doubt. The place she currently was standing was a… neighbourhood to maybe be afraid of. She turned around and gazed all-over. Unlike Zaun or Noxus, she didn't see an immediate madness to gape at and scream aloud 'oh, my God.' The street wasn't exactly empty but it was full enough to be comfortable to her standards; not like Demacia, where she could even swear people smelled her butt. She didn't see any miserable children starving on one alleyway without anyone giving a damn about it, and not a single one scary and bad smelling bulky man prowling around, seeking for trouble. Actually, she may be the only person in there that smell bad.

She held one stare from one woman who curiously gazed at her odd behaviour. Her surprised reaction amused Lux, and even more when the woman grabbed quickly the arm of her lover and hushed him to trot away.

She may've being overreacting. Mother wouldn't be pleased with this place at all, but it didn't matter; she would scream if she knew her daughter was actually working and not getting married to a wealthy man. Well, that won't happen.

She did a last check on the people waking by, making sure that no one was watching her before snapping her fingers as most silently as she could, changing again her blonde hair back to black in a fraction of second, along with her face just slightly as well. Her bath wasn't necessary, not when you force your magic to cope with you. It could rest later.

The blonde spun on her heels and snatched the hiring sing onto her hands, paying it some attention. A grin leaned out her lips. Her face went up determinately, almost reaching for one grip into the door before she was scooted aside by a bigger body, almost pushing her out of the stairs.

"Move, girl! Are you getting inside or what?" A fat, hairy man spoke harshly. Her nose immediately registered his bad smell as well; also the uniform that he was wearing: it resembled one of the marine she saw long time ago. She couldn't help but feel better at not being the only one smelling bad. "This brats nowadays, always being snippy! Goddammit!"

Her head followed his path through the doors left open. That was great. That's right; she wasn't Luxanna Crownguard, Demacia's princess there. She was just a girl, a girl with a bright future! And good-smelling, she hoped.

Smiling widely, she moved her legs this time without any hesitation. Her body got in right into the building and her first impression was… that it was big.

The reception was just small and made out of wood and stone just like the rest of the structure. She walked a couple of steps on the smooth wooden, passing below a brown arc that was followed again for another couple of stairs to the level below. She slipped her hand as support across the fences as she exited the small cubicle, descending on the stairs and facing directly the bar. The place was actually half-full; some people sat down on the stools drinking and eating some fries and burgers. The bar was brown but lit with some cozy faint white lights that warmed the environment. She looked to her right, ditching the bar and looking straight into the series of tables and chairs. They were mostly brown and dark; some people were eating and drinking as well, while some were playing poker or just talking loudly. At the end, not too far of her, there was a medium-sized stage with some red curtains behind a two light steps to swarm up. As she scrutinized everything, she couldn't help but loosen up under the soft but cool tune in the jukebox playing in.

Lux immediately started looking for someone with some enough authority to show off "I work here." The only person there was a white-blonde waitress at the corner of the saloon, holding a big tray while serving some big and frightening men. She waited patiently a couple of seconds, but at seeing that the woman was almost comfortable while starting to talk with them as loudly as everyone here, she snapped and decided to move.

She walked away from the entry and started dodging across all the people sat down, making sure to even twist her body if necessary in order to not touch and disturber a single soul there. Plus, some of the men were smiling at her creepily.

"Excuse me." She talked slyly, repeating the same sentence for what it seemed like the hundredth time in the day.

The blonde woman, with her back turned against Lux, seemed almost startled at hearing her voice. As she turned around to face the mage, Lux resisted perfectly the piercing stares of the giant men in the other side of the table. She raised her hand and pointed her finger at the sign, opening her lips to start speaking.

"Oh! You're finally here." She said sassily, standing up quickly from the chair and waving dismissively the man behind, starting walk to the bar and taking Lux with her. "Hurry up, put an apron on and attend table six! They're waiting some salads. They surely will be ready; kitchen!"

Lux blinked, very puzzled, and a little offended. She fought steadily throughout all the noise around, trying to not run into anything. Her mind turned off that part of her body that was about to whisper a defensive spell and decided to wait.

"Uh, miss, I beg your pardon?" She asked patiently, nearing the end of the table zone and walking on the small "hall" that was in front of the bar. "I think there's a mistake here, and I'd like to…"

"Don't sweat it, blondie." She cut off her again, walking at the bar corner closest of the exit and opening up the small table that was connected to the wall and the marble. Lux grimaced. "Just put this apron on and deliver people's food to their tables. I'll keep an eye on the bar and also help you out." She explained quickly, tossing the apron to her. She then walked up to Lux and caught the hiring sign with her hands. "I'll take this with me. Once you hear Saul, go to the kitchen and pick up the food!"

And with that, she grabbed some beers with her that were below the marble, into some sort of freezer and trotted away. Lux spun around and stared a couple of seconds the woman's back. She blinked when she stopped in tracks.

"Ah, right, I'm Regina. It's a pleasure; you'll tell me your name later when we'll be finished."

And with that, she ditched her. Lux's gears inside started to work immediately, giving as result one word: nonsense. She peered down at her empty hand. Maybe she did something this time? It was that easy all along?"

"Who's Saul, anyways?" She thought aloud.

"Here's Saul."

Lux's head twitched in surprise and turned around slightly, watching a man's brown head popping out from a wall through a rectangular hole. He seemed tired.

"Take those to table four, the closest one to the entry." He ordered, bringing up two plates filled with food at the wooden surface, followed with a full breadbin. "What are you waiting for? Go." He said at seeing that Lux was still standing on her place, frozen.

Lux's staring space went empty as Saul moved back again into the kitchen, not saying anything afterwards. She walked slowly into the other side of the bard, putting gradually the apron on and knotting it perfectly behind her neck and waist, giving everything up and sighing.

" _I'm way too tired to keep questioning everything._ " She thought, reaching for a tray below the hole and putting the food onto carefully. " _I hope the pay's good. Well, better than nothing._ "

She grabbed it with both hands and smiled thoughtfully. She needed to make a good impression in her first day.

"Alright. Here goes nothing."

…

The chair could've complained aloud if alive thanks to the giant bulk of heaviness that knocked against its surface. Lux, emaciated, showed off almost alarming sings of have grown up a couple of years in just one night. Her apron hung across her neck, half unknotted and dirty. Her elbows rested on the table close to the bar as she used both hands to put her head on, trying to blow away the giant headache that was killing her brain. Her muscles stirred and she was in pain.

"This is not possible…" She sighed choppily.

What a work night could possibly do to her? She didn't sing for a destroying session, but it was her fault anyways. She did leaned quite a lot into the magic of the Institute of War, where she didn't have to exercise in order to stay in fit in the fields. She wasn't actually fat, but now, her physical appearance looked cringe, especially to her. Just one night burned her out. She became a cripple and it was eating her out!

"You really look horrible, girl." Regina's voice appeared beside her, putting a glass filed in water for her to drink. The girl didn't answer, but accepted the gest by drinking it. "Aren't you daddy's spoilt little princess? I should've known." She teased, sitting on the chair beside her, legs crossed.

"No!" Lux almost screamed, her glass finished. She putted it aside and stared her, taking a couple of moments to recover herself, and because her body forced her to. "It just took me by surprise. This is good; it just told me I need to do some exercise, that." She explained, breathing deeply and chilling. "I just need a moment."

Regina showed at her a tiny smile, shaking her head left and right slightly.

"Alright, I can already feeling it." Lux said, smiling just a little and her demeanour changing completely in almost a scary way. She was back in the game, and she ignored the voice inside her head that told her ' _what game?_ ' "I didn't tell you before, my name. Remember?"

"Oh, that's right!" Regina cracked up with style, her whole face telling her she was reminding her first encounter. "I've totally got you as Blondie in my head, ha, ha!"

Lux smiled slightly, also recalling that her nickname for her was also blond; maybe not Blondie or something like that. The mage straightened and blinked a couple of times.

"My name is Lucy." She lied, smiling and actually feeling some guilty inside. " _Which is good. At least I can't do it as emotionlessly as before._ "

"Lucy?" Regina uttered, nodding to herself a little. "Uh-huh." She muttered, looking away.

"What?" Lux questioned, cursing herself immediately after that mentally for being so eager to know everything.

"Well, nothing, that I didn't think that was your kind of name." She said to herself, taking a candy out of her brown coat and eating it. "You seem like… a Taylor. That's right. Taylor."

Lux raised one eyebrow but a satisfied one. At least she didn't say she had a face of "Luxanna Crownguard, light mage and a great saviour of Ionia."

"Taylor is a weird name." She frowned. "Where did you hear it?"

"Oh, forget it." She said quickly. "When you're finished, go check the door at kitchen's right bottom side. You'll enter a small flat; shower and sleep in." She beamed, standing up and walking to the bar, taking a fancy green bag out of nowhere and putting it on her shoulder.

"What?" Lux asked, following her with the gaze as Regina walked away. "How did you know…? Well, that?"

"When you come from the streets, you have this… sense to tell when someone's from there, too." She laughed at the mage's bluffed face. "Also you've got that smell." She blurted, hiding her grin behind her hands.

Lux blushed.

"Don't worry, I've smelled worse." She assured. "So you better work you ass off to get out of it, anyways, you don't belong in there."

"Working my ass off got me in 'there' in first place." Lux grunted, crossing her arms.

"…but there's still work to do, right?" Regina asked with a smile.

Lux blinked at her, but didn't answer. It wasn't necessary anyways.

"I'll see you tomorrow; don't bother waking up too early. Your job starts usually at five, six o' clock." She lastly said before spinning around and walking away to the exit.

"Hold on!" Lux cried. Regina stopped and turned just her head to look at her back with a questioning look in her eyes. "Does that mean I get the job?" She asked hopefully, partly because she wasn't starving in a near future anymore and party because she did work for a day. That paying wasn't getting away from her.

"I didn't make you work here with a bunch of smelly fatty guys for nothing, of course." She joked, answering. "It's set on stone."

Lux smiled with relief, leaning back on the chair and relaxing.

"If that's everything, then I'll be on my way out. I'll catch you tomorrow!" Regina yelled as she opened the door, waving her back one last time.

"Alright, bye!"

The door closed. Lux stared into the wood, recalculating everything that happened on the day. Getting a job in just a bunch of hours and having a place to shower and sleep was nearly stupidly for her mind to understand, but it was ok. She's supposed to stop crazing out.

"Well, that was easy." She spoke herself alone in the night, standing up and stretching her body a little. "But not less painful…"

Her head turned around, catching the swing door at the bottom at the other side behind the marble. She quietly walked up, swung to one side the wooden bar blocking the way, picked her bag that suddenly appeared hung in one wall coatrack, and pushed the door back, entering the kitchen. Her eyes couldn't help but look around at the place she entered in maybe too many times in a row as for to not memorize it, at least for her.

The door closed itself after swaying forth and on for some moments. The mage started moving again, right through the worktops and kitchens. She passed within one big silver table at the middle and a giant refrigerator before stopping in front of white rickety door that seemed way older than most of doors… she noticed.

" _Idiot._ "

Her hand grabbed the knob and turned open the door, walking through it and closing it behind her. She found herself in a narrow hallway almost completely under darkness. Looking around for a switch, she didn't feel as disappointed as she would think at not finding one. Her fate chosen, she walked.

I took her at least more than a couple of steps till hitting a long rainbow-like curtain blocking the way. Her hand pushed it aside as she sneaked in, moving it back into its original place. When she spotted a small switch right beside her, she decided darkness was really bugging her. Her fingers pressed it on, and the room lit.

It was a simply but cozy living room. The light wasn't that bright but it did it as she inspected around the place, sighting the bathroom with its door already open and another small hallway that probably leaded to the dormitories. Lux leaved her bag on one of the twos armchairs and almost run straight at the bathroom, shutting the room tightly. She might be borrowing some clothes. And also hoping that there was some of them, too.

….

"Lucy, wake up. Girl! Come on!… I'm not doing this, get up. Seriously. Why am I doing this? Lucy. Lucy… LUCY!"

Lux's body snapped awake brutally from the marble, trembling around for a little before taking some sight. Her blurred eyes deviated from the nothing, tho Regina's wrinkled face.

"Wow, you can't be that tired, are you?" She asked chuckling, palming slightly the mage's back.

Lux sighed.

"Sorry. I had a nightmare." She apologized, blinking for more than a second before slowly starting to stand up. "It was horrible. Something kept chasing me and I wasn't able to leave it behind." She spoke, turning around to steal some coffee from the coffee maker a couple of steps away in the back of the bar.

"Sounds pretty bad." Regina commented. "Mine was about our word fighting Gods. We lose."

Lux took a sip of the coffee and tasted it closely with her mouth, deciding that the flavour of Regina's words were bitter.

"That's horrible."

"Something we had done to anger the Gods, don't you think?" She wondered aloud. Lux stood quietly, but the woman talked again without giving her time to response. "Anyway, someone wants to see you."

"What?" She said, puzzled. "Who?"

"A hottie." Lux could've sworn that she'd seen Regina's tongue twisting funnily. "I never thought you were a manizer, ooh, yes." She played, smiling with complicity.

Lux's mind got lost after "hottie," but the rest of the sentence did make it to her ears.

"What?!" She yelled silently, looking quickly around from someone, him, failing, before looking back at Regina. "I'm not like that! This is just my first day."

"It's your second one!" Regina beamed excitedly.

"My first official one."

"Then it's even better! No need to be humble. I'm proud; it took me at least five days before hooking up. Go catch him up." She answered dismissively, pinning her hands onto Lux's shoulders and pushing her to the exit to the other side. "A silver-haired one; screaming!"

Lux's heart skipped a beat for a moment, but as soon she detected it, it disappeared. Her neck turned and she shot daggers by her eyes at Regina's dreamy face. Once she was out, the woman closed the entry and signalled discreetly at one table at the very end of the saloon, where someone with a cloak was waiting.

"He's over there, at the corner. Pretty self-contained, uh?"

Lux didn't respond and instead she did her best to analyse from her spot at whoever was waiting for her. She failed, of course.

"What are you waiting for?! Go!" She yelled 'silently', giving Lux one last push.

"Alright, alright!"

The yellow blonde sighed as she glared at Regina, frowning. She recomposed herself and breathed deeply for a couple of seconds, chilling down a bit.

" _What are the odds?_ "

And with that, she strode. Her legs took her throughout the nearly empty bar, still way too early to people coming. Someone greeted her by a yell a couple of tables away and she responded with a smile, waving back again, not having any clue who that person was, but not greeting back was impolitely.

Finally she hit her objective. Standing a couple of steps behind the person, now clearily a man, judging for the shape of the cloak, she looked behind looking for reassurance. Regina gave her two thumbs up from the distance and she knew for sure it didn't help her out a little.

"Sir? Did you call for me?" She asked, almost muttered.

The man didn't seem surprised for the sudden voice -she made sure to be as quiet as possible- and instead nodded and beckoned her to take a seat in front of him with his hand, which was pale.

" _What are the odds?_ _What are the odds?_ _What are the odds?_ " She repeated over and over her new-acquired make-shift mantra.

Across her short wait to the chair, she noticed the short locks of silver hair that popped out of the dark cloak . There were only two persons she knew had silver hair. She hoped it was the one she was thinking.

But accommodated uncomfortably on the chair, she putted both her hands on her legs and stood frozen in her place, waiting for something. The man in front of her straightened and raised his hands to grab the cloak. He pulled her back maybe too slowly and then the word blurred. The face of Dante Buffardersi, the League of Legends' funder stared at her, and then she stared back, completely blacked out.

Her body didn't respond at all, but her mind was still there, nonetheless. She expected to a bunch of cloaked up people to jump in and shoot some magic to restrain her hardly and cruelly in order to take her back. That didn't happen. Her frozenness showed off on her face.

Dante, at seeing the shocked expression of Lux, softened his not-so old features.

"First of all, I apologize for showing by all of sudden." He said flawlessly, analysing Lux's eyes. 'Why would you apologize at catching a criminal?' was probably her current thoughts, so he fastened his words. "I'm not here to take you back."

Lux blinked and it seemed that his words gave her some oil to the gears inside her head. The awareness and consciousness came back at an amazing rate. Her face twisted and the man knew she didn't believe him a single bit. Her body tensed and trembled slightly, ready for anything. He could already sense light magic accumulating in her palm, swiftly and almost summoning her staff if it was necessary.

"Lies." She hissed, taken aback and nervous. "You're here because I broke the contract between me and the League of Legends; because of treason."

"I can understand your feelings, Miss Lux. That is the most logical path to follow." He granted, the piercing eyes of Lux never leaving his face and movements. It unnerved him. "But I am here just to inform you something, and to propose something as well."

"What it could possibly be that?" The black-haired girl argued, gaining her composure back bit by bit. "Are you here to give me a chance of redemption? Or maybe to join the League's quarters to feed their corruption within?"

The smirk that decorated Dante's lips made Lux feel like she shouldn't have said that. But she wasn't taking it back.

"You are very smart, of course." He said, taking a small sip from his drink, probably beer. Lux didn't notice it. "Of course you found out about that. It was just matter of time to everyone finding out about our… within issues."

"Get to the point."

He seemed a little troubled with keeping up, but he spoke.

"The League of Legends has dissolved."

Lux didn't say anything for a moment, too busy assimilating the words. Her lips stood still some seconds before speaking again.

"Master Dante, what is the meaning of this?" She said emotionlessly and completely stoic. "Did you come here to hoax me?"

"I seriously do not have time to explain everything, and I feel you do not either because this place is going to get full in a couple of minutes." Dante blurted out of blue, moving his drink aside. "We will do this as fast as possible. I know what you have been doing with your magic, Miss Lux, and I have to say it is pretty clever of you. Our magic seal in your core was not unable to tell us at all your location. It just gave us small hints wherever you slipped out some light magic or in critical situations of yours. But using nature magic to confuse and hiding was something that did not cross my mind."

Lux cursed internally.

"You may stop forcing nature magic into your body. In the long run, it would just poison you badly. I take you have feel your light magic acting weirdly, am I right?" He questioned. Lux didn't answer. "That is the natural response of it. You learned nature magic incredibly fast at the point that it seems to follow you around. Almost… willingly."

Dante stopped for two seconds, breathing some air. Lux wondered if that was the answer for some of the strange stuff that happened to her while running away. Had the magic done all of it?

"That simply 'got on the nerves' of your light magic. And if that was not enough, you pushed more and more nature magic, pushing away your light. Just like you are doing right now. I can see it. The amount of nature magic that is running throughout every single cell of your body is overwhelming. You are nowhere close to fully control it, but you learned it faster than anyone I could think. It is surprising."

"Why are you saying me this?" She said, starting to get tired of mind. Her head was starting to hurt really badly.

"Well... Being honest," He said. "I let you escape."

Lux couldn't have it anymore. The cringe feeling she was being toyed again took over, and she was done.

"This is giving me a serious aching in my head." Lux whined sincerely. "I… don't understand. Elaborate, please."

"You did a good job hiding your magic. My fellow high-level trackers were baffled and even angry at first because you simply vanished from our radars. I could have had tracked you by my own personal and very efforts, but as I have said, I did not want to. I assume you know which your first mistake was?"

"In the city of Shanti." She replied immediately and bitterly. "Those women were talking about me. I don't know what happened, I just couldn't resist it. I ran away and I took the attention with me as I did. That doesn't answer my question."

"Patience, Miss Lux. We are almost there." He smiled softly. "You are right. And from that, we did not lose your track. Practically everyone was chasing you. It was logical, but I congratulate you for keeping yourself hid that long."

"Keep talking."

"What you said before about… our corruption…" He started somewhat ashamedly, she couldn't tell because he was as good as her masking feelings. "I am very aware of that. In fact, everything started falling apart at the very following day the League of Legends did its first appearance."

"..."

At not seeing response, he kept up. "Tell me, Miss Lux, do you believe in prophecies?"

"What?" She asked, raising one eyebrow. "Well, their trustworthy have been questioned since I can remember; for Scientifics, especially. "She recalled. "But there actually are some proofs that favoured some of them. Supposedly, there was a prophecy that warned everyone of… the Delphian War, and another one, I think, about that."

"That is correct. Sometimes, depending off which person says it, prophecies have a chance to be true."

"What does it have to do with this?" She pressured the matter, crossed arms on her chest as she started tapping the floor nervously. "I don't like this."

"The book you stole," He stated almost harshly, making Lux to smile extremely nervous. "that simple-looking notebook, belonged to a Legend forgotten throughout the years, protagonist of one prophecy. I do not care about the other book; I have more than enough of that one, but that notebook is _very_ special. I assume you already know what I am talking about, is that right?"

"Yes." She replied, almost whispered. "I felt that the first second I saw it. I think I didn't even notice it was just a notebook. I was only focused on, well, escaping…"

Dante smiled.

"The book belonged to a man who used to be called 'The Elementalist.' There are very little and none records of him, not even in books. Only in scrolls and old rune inscriptions in places far, far away from here. What I know about of him is that he was the very first human on earth to acknowledge and learn magic at its full potential. That man was the cornerstone for us to have won that war against the Gods."

Lux's eyes widened in surprise, suddenly feeling the empty space on her shoulder were her bag is usually.

" _That explains a lot._ " She thought.

The silence that followed wasn't recognised by her mind. Impromptu, the annoying space where the answers should be inside her mind connected to the logic and then she realized.

"No, no, no…!" She yelled, her body twitching involuntarily. "You can't possibly being asking ME what I'm thinking! Are you?"

Dante denied quickly with both his hands.

"Please calm down, Miss Lux. I still have not asked you anything." The silver-haired man answered. "What I am trying to say it is that… the book only opens to someone who is capable of learn more than one kind of magic; elemental magic. And right now, I am seeing… three kinds of different magic being wield for you."

Lux sweated cold.

"Light, nature… and Dark." He said gloomily, stopping for a moment after spelling the 'dark' word. "I only have seen people empowering not more than two different kind of magic; and those are very special cases. You are the most special, along The Elementalist. You are blessed, Miss Lux, and I can see that there is still more things hidden on you."

Lux's hands sought rest on the table in front of her, nearly dropping her whole body on it. She breathed deeply and tried to cope with the knowledge she just received. Dante went silent for her own sake, willing to give as much time she needed to.

"Is this… _another responsibility_?" She asked in extreme disgust and repulsion, so much that the powerfulness of the words shocked slightly the man. "Something that I _need_ to attend?"

"No."

Lux's head rose up a little, the faintest of the surprise barely showing on her pupils that suddenly had seemed to darken.

"You are not obligated to do anything. Prophecies not always are true. Besides, this is not your problem, right?" He tried to smile reassuringly.

The gastric juice that threatened to break free from her throat fanned out. The oxygen squeezed its way again into her blood and she feel like thinking straight again. The black-haired gathered some strength on her arms and pushed herself back again onto the char. She tried really hard to believe him.

"You still haven't said to me why the League has 'suddenly disappeared'." She muttered.

Dante's lips furrowed, but he listened.

"The old prophecy spoke of how a man powerful enough stood up for every single person and animal of the world, saving us for the horrendous fate the Gods decided for us. The less known fact is that the Gods got angered ironically by him. After The Elementalist, no one was even near of being capable of use magic in that superior level. I am afraid that the story will repeat again."

Lux frowned and closed her eyes.

"Keep on, please."

"Back in that time, both human and God sides were inexperienced. As idiotic as it sounds, the Gods underestimated the power of the humans and one of them knowing how to use magic and teaching it. The humans' flaw was their lack of a strong alliance. They all surely joined up and formed one, but way too late. They won, but the ravages were horrible. That needs to be fixed."

"So let me get this straight." Lux snapped, her face pale but not less strong. "If I keep learning more and more, inevitably learning the four elements, just like that… prophecy says, because it's obvious, the Gods will be angry."

Dante smiled.

"Well, that-"

"Why aren't they getting angry by all those people besides me learning magic? There is more than one single being that is able to use magic." She stated, annoyed. "It's ridiculous! I'm having a hard time believing it."

Dante stared at her, offended for being cut off, but he ignored it.

"The Gods are not the most… understandable deities." He admitted. "More than one of them is seeking for revenge. I am not going overboard with saying that you probably are the reincarnation of The Elementalist; that is enough. Tell me, did you read something in the notebook that could have possible told you something? Maybe a similarity between you two?"

"Well, the book was indeed very expressive." She said sarcastically, remembering the strange introduction and the kind of ritual she did back in her room long time ago. "…He said he assumed I was a light mage. Does he was one?"

Dante smiled pleasantly in a way that gave Lux almost enough confidence to scoot over the table and smack it away from his face.

"He was. That is one of the few things I know about him." He said. Lux face deadpanned. "Light mages are very rare, Miss Lux, and I am sure you know that. There is a difference between using the light magic around and wielding it, like Leona, the Radiant Dawn, than being able to _produce_ very own light. Just like you. You have a light of your own."

"How convenient." She said with a frown.

"I do not know why they suddenly went missing. You are the only know left, so it is either you or you." He shrugged.

Lux's glance pierced through Dante's eyes at seeing him losing all the professionalism for one second, and also how he grabbed his beer and drank some of it. Lux's finger started to tap against her arm, still doubting.

"Did you expect me to collaborate?" She asked deadly, frowning. "I run away from home because I was sick of people always telling me what to do and what not. And now you flash in with this."

Dante seemed ashamed.

"I can't turn this down. And you knew it."

"Remember, it is up to you, Miss Lux." He tried somehow to get her loosened a little. Lux snorted. "Well, it may seem like there is no other option."

"Of course there's none." The girl hissed, looking aside with shade. "If I say no, then it's likely us to lose this imminent war. What a drag."

"This is the… good part about this." Dante said hesitantly. Lux gave him a look, asking him if he just dared to say that. "There is no rush for you to do anything right now…. Just keep doing what you were doing."

"If you say so, then I'm not complaining it." Lux said really dismissively, massaging her nose a little while her eyes were closed. "Just one last thing. How did you manage to get rid of the League of Legends? I'm sure you didn't come up a day saying 'Hey, guys, got tired of this. From now on, you're on your own.' Right?"

"Of course not; I wish it could've been done that easily." Dante sighed as he drank more from his bottle. "It is actually simple, but it sounds a little… crazy saying aloud."

"I'm all ears."

"Well, to put it simple... Memory washing."

Lux blinked. Then, she frowned.

"With help, of course." The man said upon seeing the face of Lux. "I was not unable to do it by my own. My magic was not sufficient to host a spell of that scale. Have you ever heard about those rumours about me being able to mind-reading?"

"Yes, I have." She replied, surprised. "Can you?"

"No, that is far beyond my reach." He admitted. Lux facepalmed. "But I do have some knowledge about the magic related to one' mind, but mostly in a… physic way. With those bases, I confused everyone' brains with a few exceptions."

"Who helped you out and why there are exceptions?" The girl asked as she grimaced at Regina's poor attempt to ask her from the bar if everything was alright. She muttered a 'yes', and the blonde woman somehow understood her because she smiled brightly. Lux sighed.

"Aurelion Sol."

Lux's head twisted immediately at him, gaping.

"What…?" She asked half-shocked, half-amused. "THAT sassy dragon helped you? The most arrogant being in the whole universe?"

"That is correct." Dante said.

"Hold on a second. Now I think about it, can't he just deal with the Gods? I mean, isn't he extremely powerful?"

"I asked him the same question, but the answer was not that good." The man frowned. "He told me that Gods exist only because people believe in them. The more who believe, the more powerful they get. It is very uneventful for us. The only other way is to killing all humans, but I think we all refuse that path."

Lux's fingers found a good spot on her temples to massage. She fought really hard.

"I just can't even." Lux said. "I have so many questions, but I'm done for today. Let's call it a night, shall we?"

"I agree…Even if it is a little earlier." Dante simply said, taking the last sip of his bottle before stretching a little. "We will keep in contact. And please, do not forget that there is no need to rush anything. Keep living your life; I will contact you in the future. It is better to live without having to worry about the prophecy; it will catch up to you by itself."

Lux's whole face wrinkled.

"If you say so."

The last thing she saw of him was simply his hand waving at her before turning around and starting walk off. Her senses got aware of everything around and she noticed that the place was almost completely filled with people. She blinked.

"Lucy!" The screaming voice of Regina scared the hell out of her, making her body to jump over the chair a little. "What did you two talked?! Oh my Gods, you both surely spent some time here, uh!"

"What do you mean? It was barely ten minutes."

Regina gave her a look.

"You were here, like, an hour. You feeling good?"

Lux's mouth opened slightly. But she shook it off.

"I'm fine. Hey, do we have some cake left? I'm feeling like getting fat."

Regina chuckled, nodding. She didn't comment at her change of subject.

"We have. Light vanilla?"

"More like… heavy, sweet chocolate." She smirked.

"You're on."

…..

That night she had dreams about a war. It was completely blurry and unintelligible. She dreamt about forest catching on fire, tsunamis drowning everything and tornados spinning deadly across every single place on Valoran. She dreamt abouth horrible storms harassing the seas and everything freezing it to death. Butterflies speeding at her and eating every bit of flesh; the earth itself opening and devouring her into the very magma. Then, everything getting dark and hopeless. In that dream, she wasn't finding any light, and it seemed like everyone has vanished out of the existence. She didn't find any hope, or at least not until she woke up with the sight of Regina's face.

Lux revolved uncomfortably around the sheets of the bed and found out that she was covered in sweat.

"Morning! This is for you!" Regina squeaked joyfully, awaking Lux a little more as she handled an orange box with a ribbon.

"What? What is this?" Lux asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her hands a little.

"A birthday present. Wait, it isn't your birthday today? I could've sworn…" She answered. Lux shot her a surprised gaze.

"What day is today?"

"October 24, the day of not drinking soda, of course."

"Twenty- what? Does that day really exist?"

"No, but it really helps out with the diet. It's the best."

Lux smiled weakly. She moved off the sheets, revealing the borrowed pyjama Regina tossed to her last night before sleep. The black haired girl stared at the wooden floor before speaking.

"My birthday was five days ago. Crazy!" She sighed to herself, hugging her chest a little. "I can't believe I forgot it."

"Well, I wasn't that wrong. I just got the feeling." The blonde woman said delighted. She pushed the gift again into her arms. "Open it! I hope you like it. If you not, well, I'm not taking it back."

Lux blinked but accepted the gift after muttering a silent 'thanks'. She unknotted the ribbon and pulled up the cover. She didn't expect finding one pretty glasses inside with dark hinges.

"I noticed before that you actually have some problem with your eyes, like when you had to lean a lot in order to read the orders of the clients. So I talked with some people and I found this for you; and the woman who sold it to me said they were a little special. It will erase the problem till you don't have to use them anymore."

Lux listened to it and nodded slowly, still a little shocked. Her hands grabbed the glassed and raised them slowly. She paid Regina a last glance before putting them hesitantly above her nose and holding them onto her ears. The new weight felt weird, and she felt like falling over the floor. However, she found herself having the vision sharpening and even more shocked that she didn't notice she was having vision problems before.

"Oh my-"She stopped herself in middle tracks. She wasn't saying that not ever again. "… Wow. I never noticed I had this kind of problem before."

"C'mon! See through the mirror!" Regina hurried her up, grabbing her arm and taking her out of bed.

They stormed out of the bedroom and rushed to the bathroom. Lux was pinned right in front of the mirror, smiley.

"How do I look?" She asked, posing in a very much straightened pose.

Regina shot her an odd look, but she laughed it off.

"Like a soldier." She said mockingly. Lux's face fell. "Why don't you try showing off your butt and posing sexy?" She demanded, getting in formation. "Like this!" Her back twisted like a parabola.

The mage frowned and nodded determinately. She switched her hands; one onto behind her head and another one on her left hip.

"Good, you're balancing between your back and boobs! Awesome!" Regina complimented cheerfully.

Lux smiled weakly before returning to her normal shape. Regina's body pushed her slightly as she went down, opening the little door below the sink, taking out one bag.

"Now shower and put these!" She yelled quickly, smashing the bag onto Lux's chest, who still was recovering from the shove. "We're buying some stuff today to celebrate your birthday. Get ready, we're going clothes hunting."

"Wait, what?" Lux half-said, peeking at the bag. There were some clothes inside, Regina's. "What about the bar? Don't you have to open it?"

"Pfft! Bob got ours back today."

"Who's Bob?"

"The owner." She answered with a look. Lux blinked.

"I thought you were the owner! Why I haven't seen him?"

"He was on a trip all over Ionia because of holidays or something like that, but he's back now and he said I was free for today! He also wanted to meet you, but that's for later. I saw those perfect earrings on the store and wanna grab them before they get sell!"

"WAIT, did you just accepted me without consulting him?" The mage asked bewildered. "Regina! That's not right!"

"ALL I hear is bla-bla-bla, and not a single this!" She said, mimicking somehow a sponge sound cleaning the skin. "I'm off! I'll be waiting at kitchen!"

Lux's mouth opened to try and say something, but the blonde woman ran away like in a marathon.

"… Well, I've already said that I wasn't questioning stuff that much anymore." She said to herself, turning around and putting the clothes above the small table pinned to the wall.

…

"Holy Goodness, they're so perfect." Regina beamed with satisfaction, staring the oval silver earrings on her hand. She didn't waste any further second and hurried to put them on her ears. "How do I look?" The parabola pose.

Lux's gave her the most annoying look ever possible, holding tight the bags on her hands and forearms.

"Fine." She answered, trying to be kind. Her grimace betrayed her, though.

Regina snorted and walked away from the door of the jewellery store at Eríni's commerce zone, pushing her friend's back with her hand. They both managed around the swarm of people en some vastayas, finding their way into the principal avenue.

"Oh, you're such a joy-killer." Regina whined while guiding her somewhere. "Have a little fun today! And you be better prepared for tonight, we're partying with the guys."

"Fine, fine! Just for today!" The girl agreed with a sigh, stopping walking just as Regina. She looked around: they were in some nice little plaza near the tavern.

"Regina? Hey!"

A sound come out of Regina's mouth which Lux could classify it like painful. The blonde woman flashed a freeze smile at another woman waving at them a couple of meters away and turned her head to face Lux.

"Oh my God, I cannot stand this puta. Always fucking my boyfriends and borrowing money." She said bitterly to Lux, making her to pokerface. "Hey, baby girl!"

The woman, probably at Regina's age, stopped in front of her and greeted the blonde woman with a loud miss on both cheeks. Lux straightened and looked away a little uncomfortable.

"Long time no see! What have you been up to?" She asked, pushing her hair back and somehow rocking her hips at the same time.

"Uh, nothing, the usual." Regina said. Then she turned to Lux. "This is Lucy, my new friend."

"Oh, hey girl." She answered idly. "I've heard you're being thrown a party tonight. I'll be there." She winked.

Regina's face contorted. Lux didn't respond.

"Oh, my, you still haven't said anything to her? My bad. Oops." The woman said, not a single bit ashamed and not hiding it that much.

"It doesn't matter. We gotta go, bye!"

And with that, Regina stormed away, grabbing Lux by her arm. They practically trotted in direction at the tavern, taking one street that took them away from the crowded place.

"Oh my Gods! I can't believe she said that!" She cursed all over. "I'm sorry, that's why I dislike her. She's such a pain."

"It's okay. It's pretty nice of you." She said, dodging the people and trying to held the bags at the same time. "It isn't like I do this that much."

Regina sighed and slowed down a bit. She snatched some bags and carried them on her forearms, trying to smile.

"It's okay, now go to the tavern and get primp. If you want to work some it's fine, but we're celebrating your birthday after midnight, alright?"

Lux smiled with a warm feeling inside her chest. It remembered of her old friends. The thought of them forgetting her hit, but she blacked her mind out.

"Thank you."

…

Lux stared herself at the mirror of the bathroom, eyeing up his new short green dress she chose. It didn't go further than her knees and it had a neckline on her back. It had a dark bow on her hips and the neckline on her bust was fine as well. Her eyes switched to her grandma's necklace and the new earrings leave-shaped Regina forced her onto her ears. Her black hair fell freely onto her bare shoulders as she wondered how on the world the dress wasn't falling over. Everything looked pretty but she couldn't help but think that everything would look ridiculous with an apron on.

' _We're celebrating your birthday after midnight.'_

She smiled softly at remembering her friend's words. The silence of the flat felt almost overwhelming as she just stared herself on and on. Her pupils slowly deviated from her own opposite eyes of the reflection to the dark corner where the light of the light didn't reach. A purple eerie light flashed with oddly a familiar face and she cringed in her own skin, feeling ashamed. The smile slowly faded away as she spun over her black heels, walking away from the mirror and making sure to not even glance at that direction again.

…

Lux pushed aside the rainbow curtain and strode through the narrow hallway at the bar's door somewhat uncomfortably, used to her filthy boots and not to the way-too high heels. Her troubled feelings suddenly disappeared at hearing loud music coming from the other side. She blinked and approached at a faster rate at the door, noticing glimpses of lights sliding through the below border of the door. She stopped in front of the exit and peered down, noticing different shades of gold and oddly vivid light. The taste crept to her mouth and she immediately found out that light wasn't normal.

Her hand shot to the knob and forced the door open. A stream of gold light and loud music stalked her whole senses, enough to stun her for some moments. Her frown ceased and she gazed around. The rhythmic pumped through her ears as she saw one of the most handsome men ever dancing on the stage she believed was in no use. She noticed, even that far away from the heart of the noise, he was a good dancer. His golden feather-cape seemed alive, and more, it shined with him and followed his body around as if it was under his command.

The more she watched him, the more she got mesmerized by his everything. But just as he, the man, did a strange but amazing looking movement, she saw below his hips. Right were should be a set of human legs, there was indeed two legs but skinnier covered with tight kind of pants, where dark brown feathers slipped out at its borders. Instead of two human foots, there was two tarsus, each one connected with three fingers also covered on feathers, resembling a bird's feet. It was when started to think that nothing of it fucking mattered, that he was still some sort of a God, that she knew something was bad with her judging. Then, she snapped out.

" _Charming magic._ " She thought surprised, amazed and slightly annoyed with her luck at running on another man being able to use charming magic.

It seemed like the golden light that irritatingly forced onto her skin and mind sighed on sadness and shrank away, now only surrounding the man and those who were still under its effects. He was still one hell of a man, but she hadn't the feeling she would rip his pants off in any moment. The light magic she canalized inside her blood acted as a purifier as she slowly walked out the bar that was left open, noticing Regina's blonde hair right next sat down on one of the tables. She moved quietly to her, switching between the spectacle and the suspect at the corner. At first, Lux analysed her expression before doing anything. Her pupils seemed that they won't stand still; like having a visual orgasm at just seeing him, always focused on the way he moved and that how now snatched away one random woman of the surrounding crow of him to dance with.

Regina's face disturbed her enough, so she gazed around again. The small crowd around the stage, mostly women, were cheering and fangirling at the Vastaya above it, because it has to be one of them, with those animal legs and furry ears, also pointy. She even caught some men doing so as well, some whom she though they were pretty though. The few people who were sat down simply didn't take away their focus of the personality distracting. Something was fishy, her tongue felt pretty bitter.

She didn't was surprised at seeing, maybe catching because it was almost hidden, one figure, with a purple feather cape and with the same ears on the head of dark purple hair, sitting down lonely at the same corner she spoke with Dante yesterday. Whoever it was, not only seemed completely unfazed to the handsome man's charming, but also didn't order anything unlike everyone else. There was not a burger o beer on that table, but a map. And she saw that figure writing down some things before grabbing some red, a pencil maybe, and doing an X sing on picture of someone. Lux panicked.

Her attention focused now on sat down close to Regina and use her hand to inject enough light magic inside Regina's body to snap her out of the trance. Her eyes that moved scarily by someone's will come to a halt after a couple of seconds. The woman blinked a couple of times, as if she was recovering from some sort of coma before turning her head around to Lux at seeing her presence.

"…Lucy? Hey, what did it take so long in there?" She asked slowly, not even near at her usual normal speech. She smiled goofily and did not wait her to respond. "Hey, did you see that cutie on there dancing? What a man."

Lux's lips got pretty slim as she pumped a little bit more of light magic. Still not enough.

"Regina, this is important. I need you to listen to me. Are you?" She said quickly on a demanding tone, her face slightly stern.

Regina shot her a puzzled and funny look, but nodded.

"What's the matter?"

"That man dancing has got everyone under a charming spell." She spilled.

Regina's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Please listen to me. Think about now and before. Didn't you just feel extremely obsessive about him a couple of seconds ago?"

"But…" The woman tried to say, confused. "That's, that's, oh my Gods… I was… having, oh my Gods."

"I think he's with that in the corner." She kept talking, pointing with her finger at the same cloaked figure as before, who was still writing something. "They'll kill someone tonight. I need you to go out seek help."

"They what?!" She yelled a little, the scream being engulfed in the jukebox's music and laugher and cheers of the people. "What about you? No! How do you know this?"

"Just go! We don't have any more time!" She commanded. "Go!"

Regina's face contorted in hesitance, but Lux flashed a reassuring look. She seemed really troubled.

"I'll be fine. Go." She said again.

Regina breathed deeply but nodded slowly. She got up the chair and walked at the exit discretely on the sly, making sure to not being noticed by anyone. The black breathed on relief at seeing the wooden door finally closing.

Lux's teeth slammed within, her magic already canalizing on her hand ready to summon her staff if necessary, not losing attention of the act. She wasn't killing anyone nor let anyone innocent die on her watch.

"Hell yeah! Shake that body!" The Vastaya screamed to the woman he was dancing with, or maybe just tossing around as he danced wildly around her. The poor woman couldn't keep up with him. "Show me your human moves!"

The mage saw how he twirled her around and moved the girl with his arms to the point that it was too overwhelming and maybe a little rude. He was just having fun with toying her. But that woman simply didn't care. She seemed happy touching his bare muscular chest (she just noticed) time by time.

The act was just as ridiculous as funny, and she weirdly found herself having fun by just staring, but she caught by the corner of her eye the purple-cape figure suddenly standing up. It turned around enough to walk out between the chair and the table and, after picking everything up off the table and saving it somewhere on her; Lux noticed it was a woman. It definitely had the same features of the man currently dancing, but instead of golden, it was purple.

Her mind started to blur slightly, thinking really fast at seeing how the woman took out of nowhere some feathers induced with magic and hold them like projectiles. She danced across the people who didn't give a thought about her, following one single direction. Lux tried and predicted, her sight falling on finally in one group of three men with Ionian Guard uniforms.

" _Regina, where are you?!"_ She screamed mentally, losing focus on herself and only making sure to have magic at hand.

She didn't want to act unless completely necessary, but she was getting out of time. The Vastaya man danced even louder and more distracting; the woman feathers seemed to have sharpened and Lux's mind come up with all kind of possibly scenarios. Maybe she should shoot a laser, or maybe a light bomb to blind everyone and take out to safely those men? What about a shield? All those years fighting inside a simulator for the Institute of War weren't paying off. She couldn't afford a mistake. One and she'd find again blood on her hands. Maybe she wasn't looking out for people like back in Demacia, but she also couldn't ditch people to die. What she could do?

No one was paying attention at her. After stopping behind the guard, the woman nonchalantly raised her right arm, three feathers on hand, and aimed. The arm took some space back to charge the shoot. Her expression was bold and bored, as if doing killing was a normal day doing. One second later, a root erupted out of the floor almost beside the woman and quickly twirled around, aiming for the arm of the Vastaya. The girl's head turned and her eyes widened on surprise. Her reflexes got her to duck just in time to avoid being crushed by the root, but her forearm wasn't that lucky. The root practically slapped away her hand and forced the feathers to fly erratically, leaving a trail of neon purple behind and not impacting anyone. The woman cried back in pain and took some steps away, holding her hand that seemed twisted oddly.

Everything stopped. The music died out and the Vastaya man appeared beside the girl skidding on the air with a whirl of golden feathers, wearing one of the most worrying looks Lux ever saw on someone's face.

"BABE! Are you alright?!" He screamed, his magic reaching up for her and helping the woman on a stood pose quickly, not ever peering away before analysing her injury. The impatience of an answer got out not the good side of him because his golden eyes pierced on Lux's alongside her hand glowing green intensely. "Humans…" He hissed. "Hold on, Xayah. I need to take care of that piece of shit."

Lux blew up on a face of disbelief. She frowned and focused light magic on her hands, ready to summon her staff.

"I'd like to see you trying, rooster!" She yelled, not liking at all his tone. "I won't let you harm anyone."

He smiled in a mix of excitement and anger, VERY OFFENDED, taking one step closer.

"Don't." The woman said severely, her good hand reaching up for his arm. "Let's withdrawal, the guards will be here in any moment."

"I won't let this slip out." He barked at her, still having his gaze on Lux. "Girl needs to be punished!"

"Rakan!" She insisted, looking around and seeing the people starting to break out of the charm spell. "Out, NOW!"

The door of the tavern burst open and six guards stormed in, their eyes looking everywhere before stopping at the middle of the fight. Most of the people where still under the charming's leftover effects, but the few people who were conscious stood frozen in their places, staring.

"Them!" Regina ran in, pushing some guards on the way. She pointed at the Vastaya pair that were currently staring at them. "Those are the people who caused trouble!" She shouted, her eyes inevitably drawing away to the gigantic root coming out of the floor. "Holy shit! I bet they also did that! Arrest them!" She cried, horrified. Lux immediately hid her hands.

"Dammit!" The Vastaya man cursed, He twirled around the girl and wrapped his cap around her. He then looked at the mage. "You messed with my girl. Watch out." He warned to Lux bitterly before exploding on a beam of golden light and feathers.

"But I was just protecting an innocent!" She screamed way too late.

The flash of light blinded everyone for some seconds before it vanished. Two seconds of silence went by where some feathers unnerved everyone.

"Close the tavern in this moment!" One of the guards, probably the leader, called out fiercely to one group of three men. "The others call backup and follow me! Those Vastayas have a warrant!"

Lux stopped paying attention at her surroundings. She fell on her knees and breathed tiredly, resting her head obn her hand. Not even a week on Ionia and she already has got new enemies.

" _How fun._ "

…

"Hey, are you alright?"

Lux felt a weight sitting down beside the bed of the room; it snapped her. Regina patted her back a couple of times but she didn't answer. Her eyes were lost of focus.

"Those men were really annoying, uh? They never stopped asking questions." The blonde woman joked swiftly, smiling. Lux grimaced a little. That only brought back memories of Demacia. "What really happened there? Did they talk to you? They threatened you? I mean those Vastaya."

"…Kind of." She finally talked, stretching her lips. "I just… feel really sad. I wasn't expecting having trouble here."

Regina's brow rose.

"…I get it. Then what did you expect being here, Lucy?"

"I don't know. Some peace and that…" She answered, sighing. Regina's hand felt now encouraging. "This wasn't anything I planned to happen."

"Even Ionia has its flaws. It is not as peaceful as some people put it." Regina said quietly, shaking her head. "We've got our problems as well. But don't worry; they aren't getting here anytime soon. The guards said they'll watch over the tavern just if they decide to show in again."

Lux smiled softly. It's been long time since someone has solaced her.

"Thank you." She said. "I hope so."

Regina smiled as well.

" _And if they come and try to harm anyone, then I'll have no choice but fight them."_ She thought. _"…Why I'm like this?"_

"Up for some cake?"

Lux's eyes widened.

"Always."

…

The trip high above on the trees went silent. Rakan jumped tree on tree, dodging branches and leaves, always making sure to hold on tightly the body of his lover on the back. His expression was drawn permanently on stress and worrying. Not a single word was said since they run away from the city of Eríni into the woods, let alone a signal that Xayah was still with him conscious. But she was, and he knew very well that something was troubling her. It was possibly the same thing as him.

He didn't know how much he moved, but once he didn't hear any human-made sound, his legs stopped gracefully on a very tall tree. He got the woman on his arms and placed her flawlessly on the cortex, sitting her down on the giant branch. She fell on it painfully, still not letting her hand go. But she wasn't focusing on that; it was merely an instinct.

"Xayah." He spoke softly, worried, caressing her face with his long fingers. "Are you alright?"

Her features twitched on recognition, her lips opening just a little in order to exhale away the air she was holding inside.

"I'm alright." She replied. He knew she was lying.

"No, you're not. Show me you hand." He commanded.

She shook her head stubbornly, using her good hand to cover the bad one.

"Seriously, it's nothing, cut it off."

The man grunted on exasperation, barely avoiding just snatching away her hand to give it a proper look. He kneeled down in front of her and raised his hand to her chin. A small force was enough to move up Xayah's face to him. He stared at her.

"Please just let me give it a look." He pleaded, starting to feel desperate. He didn't like the way the hand was twisted.

Any kind of fierce expression on her vanished in sight at hearing his broken tone. She looked down and, after some seconds, the way to her hand was free. Rakan quickly got on the job, canalizing his inner magic onto Xayah's hand. The golden beam shot out of his hand and wrapped Xayah's warmly, going all over the way to her forearm and reaching inside it. Rakan's face fell.

"Your wrist is broken." He said gloomily, anger hidden on his voice. Xayah didn't say anything. His magic stayed on her arm a little more before vanishing. "I've tended the swelling, but you'll need to keep it safe with a splint." He spoke again, grabbing his cape and ripping off some long feathers.

"Wait, you don't have to-"

"Don't talk." He cut her off immediately, stretching the feathers and putting the three of them around Xayah's wrist. He filled them with some magic and the feathers ironed tightly around it, making it impossible to move. "It won't last that long. We need to go home so they can tend you."

"We're not going back."

"Why not?" He asked, annoyed. "Xayah, you need to rest! It's enough already!"

"You didn't see her, Rakan?" Xayah yelled, taking back her arm onto her lap. "Don't fuck with me! She was using our magic! She was profaning what we're fighting for!"

"I saw it, okay?!" He admitted heavily, his eyes flashing furiously. Xayah gritted her teeth, narrowing her gaze. "… but you got injured. It's wrong of me being worried about you? Does it bother you? Don't you want me to feel this way?"

Her frenetic state wiped out as soon as she heard his voice. Xayah t'ched and looked away, breathing deeply.

"That human used the wild magic of ours; she's no different from those shadow idiots." She beamed, losing her nerves at the last words. "We _cannot_ do anything. Are you with me?"

Rakan snorted.

"What kind of question is that? I'll be always with you." He answered honestly. "But please promise me you'll take care of yourself."

Xayah avoided his gaze.

"…Fine." She said quietly. "I'm sorry."

…

 **So…. It was shorter than I wanted it to be, but with the release of this new champion Zoe, all my plans with the story kinda messed up, so I had to finish this and publish it. This means that, throughout the time writing this, new champions also have a chance to appear, especially this little kid. She, for example, is something that I can't ignore.**

 **I hope you're liking the plot.**

 **11/07/17: I forgot to tell you guys how next chapter is going to be called. So, depending on its length, the name could be either "Wild Magic" or "Prism" Bye!**


	6. Wild Magic

**Merry Christmas everyone and also happy New Year's Eve! Since this is going to be the last episode for this year, I would like to thank you to keep reading. I hope seeing you guys next year as well.**

 **So I hope the story isn't getting hard to understand? I tried to edit the whole chapter but I just took care of the scenes that seemed more important hehehe.**

 **6\. Wild Magic**

"The session is adjourned. The state of Demacia is grateful for today's efforts by the jury. Thank you all."

After the verdict of the jury that gave an end to the trial, the voice of judge dismissed everyone in the court without leaving any say. She didn't pay attention at the man who was a couple of meters in front of her at the left side of the stand, whose body was being restrained by the guards' strong arms, punishing every attempt of breaking free. His infuriated face could have promised infinite suffer, but the woman didn't waste any second on looking back. As she made quickly made her way out of the stand, grabbing all her stuff, she gave a big but sharp assent at the people who decided the fate of today's criminal.

The people from the tribunals started to step away from the grandstands through the small door of it and paying back as well the salute she was giving. All of them strolled throughout the court of law, passing by the small aisle between the chairs, the few people that showed up to witness the trial joining them gloomily. She wondered, then, who could be capable of get fond of someone who killed his wife and children. More people than she thought, apparently.

The woman choose walking at the opposite direction of the jury, facing two more guards who were guarding the door at the other side of the court of law. They nodded at her before opening the door, allowing her to pass in. Folders tight held in her chest, she strode through the elegant, shiny white-like alleyway towards her office. Her heels resonated alongside the corners of the place, the silence of the room emphasizing it. After some moments, she stood still at front of her office's door, knowing that apparently she was alone for now.

Her hand grabbed the knob and spun it aside, opening the silver door and shutting it behind after walking in. Her office, a huge contrast out of outside, appeared in her eyes. The scent of her own stuff reached her nose and the woman finally relaxed. Her walk loosened a little as she reached for her desk just in a couple of steps, passing by through the middle of the room. The dark brown carpet muffled her feet as she sat down on the dark and big, comfortable swivel chair, dropping the folders on one side. Her fingers reached for the table lamp and turned it on as she took out one quill and some ink from the drawer. She grabbed one folder out of the tree and turned it open. The door was knobbed when she was about to sign some orders.

Her long, pure dark straight hair almost twitched in discomfort. Her back straightened, forcing some blocks of it on her face. She wasn't expecting any kind of visitors.

"Come in."

Out of caution, her gland shined light blue just slightly, waiting for whomever at the other side to come in; one shot will be enough to take down any threat if necessary. The door clicked and opened. Locks of silver, short hair peeked inside. The magic on her hand vanished and she was left speechless.

"Excuse me."

The old figure of her memories stepped in. Dante pushed open the door and closed it silently behind, standing straight on his feet. His eyes connected to hers and she blinked.

"Vessaria. Long time no see." He greeted her with a soft smile, emphasising his young features.

Vessaria took some time to stare at him silently, covering up with her cold eyes his plain black clothes, trying to figure him out. She failed. She also failed at smiling fully back instead.

"…Dante. How nice is to see you again at… my office in Demacia." She replied with a ghost of smile. Her fingers dropped the quill and her legs took her off the swivel chair. She gestured the only chair in front of her desk with her hand. "Please, have a seat. Would you like some tea?"

"You already know me. I'm fonder of coffee, but I appreciate your gesture." He said with a grin, strolling on the carpet to the chair. He sat down on the white-browned chair, staring at her.

Vessaria turned around to the fancy rack behind her, opening the glassed door of it and taking out one particularly golden teapot with two small cups on a silver tray alongside with two small containers and utensils. She spun around again and settled up everything above her desk. Vessaria, then, stopped in middle tracks and glanced at him. Dante chuckled.

"Don't worry. I will not tell anyone on you." He said reassuringly, challenging her to say otherwise. She gave him a look. "But you better get this room in… safer conditions." He sighed.

Vessaria raised her hand and immediately a small blue light with white, transparent runes shone off her skin. Her hand emitted afterwards a small wave that moved all over the room, triggering thousands and thousands of runes on the walls, floor and the exit door. Some seconds later, Dante could not feel anymore what was at the other side of the door. The room was sealed off the world on a protected space.

A sore feeling spread inside his chest bitterly, taking over his thoughts as he just got what happened. If there was something that he definitely hated about Demacia, was its ridiculous hatred towards magic. That kind of beliefs were the ones who made the life of dozens of people hellish-like, being forced to hid their powers in order to not being pointed out by everyone, and worse, being executed because treason once the government finds out. That stupidity was one of the first things he took care of after taking over when the League of Legends first made its appearance. There was a huge repercussion, but they couldn't do anything when the King decided so. He had a lot of pressure on that matter.

Vessaria was one example of them. Being born in Demacia by a conservative and very out-fashioned family, she fled away because, unfortunately, she was blessed with the gift of magic. She was, alongside Lux, one of those few cases were the miracle happened neither in the best moment nor the best place. Matter of fact, he once heard her using the 'curse' word.

Piltover was her first and ever place to go because the possibilities there were abysmal, far greater than any of Demacia offered to her (she definitely wasn't fond of getting her life on military or arts). Her knowledge and her very impressive rune magic got for herself a nice place in one prestigious university specialized on old and forgotten kinds of magic. She was received warmly.

However, Dante wasn't very sure of why on earth she ended up again in Demacia, probably one of the places she hated the most. He had one theory, and probably it was the correct answer because he was the only crazy guy who messed up with almost everyone's head. He didn't know what kind of memories Vessaria's head could've come up to fill out the space he erased after casting the spell that deleted and confounded the whole's word mind. It varied on each person, and a lot of lives were changed. The decisions some people took throughout their lifetimes probably were changed with others because the spell, twisting irremediably everything. That seemed to happen with her.

On the first day after casting it, walking outside on any city was definitely hilarious. People seemed zombie'ed, moving erratically without any purpose on life. It was like a movie he saw long time ago, but one that had a bad ending. He was trying to avoid that.

He didn't have to worry about any kind of attack; whoever able to be a threat were under the spell's power. Because as how it is, Runaterra has more world-ending-like threats that he would like. See the Void, Varus and his revenge, the everlasting war of Demacia and Noxus that dragged others nations in, and now, the Gods, just to say a few.

The mighty figures were actually the less of his worries: his spell jinxed everyone's memories about them, and even so the memories were still there, they were messed up till the effect disappears. The only few who didn't forget anything were him and those who he was unable to cast the spell on or those he didn't want to, such as Lux, Aurelion Sol or other friendly god-like beings, like Bard. Bard, for example, agreed to stay out of now Runaterra's business. He probably will intercede on a critical state.

Aurelion's powers were enough to, alongside his spell; confuse even the minds of the champions of the Void or those who were ascended by Shiruma. Part of the job was done by the contract they did after joining the League. So, after helping out the dragon with his little problem with Pantheon, the rest was history. It wasn't that easy. Pantheon could be really though. Dante just broke his contract within Aurelion Sol. He could not dare to kill one of the Aspects of Targon. That would bring in another unbalance and he wasn't dealing with it. Plus, he wasn't that strong.

By the end of the first and only day of his spell, his eyes could although see the small threads of his silver magic coming out of people's brains and hoping everywhere at the speed of light. Their minds were working tiredly, trying to sort everything inside, trying to understand what was happening. Some managed to find their places because their lives were compatible with whatever they managed to fit in, and those who didn't, decided simply to join aforesaid immediately afterwards. At the end, mostly everyone kept themselves on the place they were already working their lives on. It was impossible that one farmer, for example, managed to end up as the King of Demacia. Vessaria was, again, another special case. Her memories of the only year the League of Legends occupied one place in the world were deleted and she somehow got her way into Demacia's justice as a judge come hell or high water. If he tried to decipher how she did it, his head would probably explode.

Dante was here to change that, though.

Vessaria used her finger to tap the lower part of the teapot, activating a small rune she wrote on it. The rune shined slightly before she left the teapot on the tiny tripod on the tray. Steam come out of nowhere from the mouth of the teapot.

"Which tea would you like to drink, Dante?" Vessaria asked, taking out the covers of both recipients. One had sugar cubes with a small tongs on them, and the other one had a long variety of teas. Dante eyed up the second one for a moment before answering.

"Yellow tea, please."

Vessaria grabbed one tea bag of yellow for him and picked up the brown one for her. She left them in two separated teacups before filling them up with boiling water from the teapot. She served his tea with a small plate below and with a tiny spoon at one side before doing the same with hers. She moved the teapot aside and dragged the sugar recipient. With a flick of her fingers, the tea bags disappeared in a blue flash, leaving the flavoured water behind.

"One or two cubes?" She questioned to him, picking up the tongs.

"Two, please."

Vessaria listened and did so. Two cubes fell inside his teacup; hers were left untouched. Dante nodded in thankfulness before taking the cup and starting to stir with the spoon. Tree twists and when he took one small sip; he decided he wasn't thirsty. He only spoke, however, when he saw that Vessaria already done with her first sip. Her slim fingers left the cup on the plate and then she made herself comfortable on the chair before speaking.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you here again?" The black haired woman started, the slightly puzzlement tone in her voice. Dante shrugged dismissively.

"Oh please, you are speaking to me as if we were only acquaintances." He remarked, shaking his head. Vessaria doubted with her lips.

"Years passed through the time since the last time we had our very last acknowledge." She stated. Dante smiled. "Tell me. What brings you here, Dante? Did you do something wrong and you decided to seek help here? I can't help you if I know you did it."

"It is not that, I promise." He answered, amused. He moved the teacup aside, Vessaria following the movement of his hands with her eyes. She understood the message. "I came here to give you something important. I am sure that you will be grateful once you give an eye on it."

"Then I'm all ears. Show me."

Vessaria analysed his movements as he rummaged for something that was inside his pocket. Thousands of thoughts passed by her mind, trying to guess whatever he was trying to do here and what kind of thing he could possibly have on his pocket.

He finally stopped and took out something black and odd. The first thing she noticed was that it was a small cube, not bigger than her own hand and that it had erratic marks everywhere and small spikes on every face. The next one was surprising. Written on her very handwriting, there was the small rune that meant seal, and below it there was another one which said memory. The next and last one thing was definitely shocking. It was imbued with two different magic which were in a perfect state of balance. Her magic and Dante's. Both achieved something incredible at mixing perfectly. She didn't remember at all ever doing that.

When Vessaria doesn't exactly know the answer for something, she gets uncomfortable. And really fast.

"Explain this right now, if you don't mind." The woman said severely, her fingernail tapping the desk.

"Why do you not see it by yourself? It is going to be way better… and productive." Dante said, shaking off her demand with a smile and stretching out his arm with his palm open.

She gave him an annoyed look, not happy with his answer, but it was always better doing things by her own than rather letting other people to. Carefully and with wary movements, her arm ditched the warmness of her cape; curse Demacia's dress code, and scooted over in the air to approach the cube. After feeling the way around it, she finally decided to take it from Dante's hand.

Unlikely she thought, the spikes didn't do anything to her skin. They actually gave her a small feeling of tickling. This time, she easily identified her own magic inside. It was tightly cramped inside. She spun the thing over her hand, giving it a long look before stopping on the face that it had the runes she supposedly wrote.

"I don't remember this thing, Dante. What it is?" Vessaria asked again, seeing the runes. "This is my handwriting. And I'm sure you can't copy that."

"Do not worry. It will not do anything harmful." He reassured quickly, a little disappointed at seeing that she stopped interacting with it. "You know what to do, just trust me. Have I ever done something to spoil our trustiness on each other?" He said with an attempt of innocence.

"Don't make me remember." She said with a disapproving frown, punching aside his words. She sighed and switched her glance to the cube again.

No matter what could've happened back in the past, he was right. He would never do anything that could possibly harm her in any way. So, mind made, she reached up for both runes with one of her fingers and activated them with a touch of her magic. A sharp, short sound like an electricity spark triggered before the small cube shined. A mix between blue and silver light erupted from it and darted across the air directly to her head before she could even react. An instant later, a flash of millions of memories smashed against her very senses. An amalgam of blurry images mixed like a soup wandered to the very end of her mind, jamming itself inside painfully.

Vessaria squeaked in pain before dropping the cube and grabbing her head with both her hands. The thing however stood in the air, still radiating off the lights out of it. Some seconds of torture, the thing finally stopped and fell on the desk harmlessly with a silent thump. The woman dumped her back on the chair she was sat on and cried in pain, her eyes tightly crossed. Dante quickly stood up and rushed at her side, raising one hand.

"Allow me to help with that." He said before emanating another bunch of his magic off his hand. The magic moved at her eyes and temple before squeezing inside through her skin. Some seconds afterwards, the frown on Vessaria's face ceased just a bit. "Better?"

She breathed deeply some air in, trying to regain the composure. Her black eyes snapped open and glared at him with resentment. Dante managed to smile at her sheepishly before she spoke.

"What on earth was THAT?" She beamed furiously, caressing her head, trying to erase the serious headache she had. "What...? What did I just saw?"

"We both made that days ago. We decided that it would do better to save all your memories inside that small artefact before I casted the spell. What you just saw was the memories of a whole year getting back in your mind. Tell me, do you remember?"

She was about to scream at him to stop talking shit before another piercing pain shoot right above her brain. She cried, getting her body cringed. And then, his words somehow made sense. A flash of a memory popped up inside. The serious discussions they had, when they found out what was happening inside her mind, the spell someone hexed on her, and how it would be the best to do a backup of her memories.

Vessaria was a not a woman to speed into conclusions. So she forced her herself to relax. Every breath she took gave her some sense in. She brushed her hair aside with a slightly trembling hand after gaining some confidence. She slowly straightened on the chair again and stared into Dante's eyes again. Her demeanour was tired. He understood the message.

"Alright, so I better explain this to you."

…

"What you just said is far beyond believable. If… it wasn't for that little artefact, I would've already kicked you out from my office at the next instant." Vessaria said after drying the cup with the last sip. The man shrugged, not having an answer for that and smiled knowingly at her.

"Now please, remember me again why I agreed on this. No matter from which point of view I take a look, it sounds ridiculous. Moreover, I don't remember exactly the reasons of it."

"That is understandable. Your mind has jammed the memories in order to not let you die from… uh, extreme tiredness, and the horrible pain you'll feel trying to sort them out. They will come bit by bit, and then bunch by bunch."

Vessaria nodded slowly, holding her hands on each other.

"First thing first, why did you erase my memories? Couldn't you not just jinx me like all the other people?" She asked annoyed, trying to bear with the headache behind her head. Out of nowhere, some creeps shoot across her spine, making her to startle slightly with goosebumps.

"I really could not do it." He said honestly, his voice expressing slightly rancour. Vessaria wondered why. "One of the reasons I came up with this plan was because you were already jinxed by someone. Remember?"

Vessaria frowned, nodding slowly.

"Who?"

"LeBlanc."

That name being spelled gave her not the best feeling inside. A sour taste took over her mouth as she tried to bear with the information. Vessaria re-accommodated herself on the chair and breathed. LeBlanc was probably the most enigmatic person she had ever known. You simply can't tell what she was thinking or exactly doing, and it was probably one of the dangerous enemies of Demacia.

Her head ached again a memory flashed on her thoughts. She grimaced. It was her exchanging words with her, and probably the only time she did it. It was inside on a strange edifice she assumed it was the Institute of War and they were talking about something she couldn't remember. LeBlanc's face appeared again; Vessaria decided she didn't like it not a single bit.

"What did she do to me?" Vessaria asked, trying to loosen herself.

"She casted a spell on you so you would turn a blind eye regarding the matters of the Black Rose. You would also give her a hand with pushing away them from every kind of discussion here at the Institute of War, all of it without you noticing it." Dante answered bitterly, suddenly finding the teacup interesting. He seemed obviously ashamed of that. "LeBlanc isn't that of strong, but her jinxes are incredibly powerful. I couldn't notice it. I am sorry."

"I wasn't your fault." She said after some moments, trying to put herself together. Dante peered up, making eye contact with her. "It was mine. I was the one who fell on it, after all. I should be the one apologizing. I couldn't honour my position as High Councillor."

"No frets." Dante said with a tiny smile. He pushed the teacup aside and scratched his hair with one finger. "Her spell was fairly powerful, as I said. I… was unable to remove it. It happened that it became stronger as the time went by. I did not have choice but also cast my spell on you as well. It took away LeBlanc' jinx with it. That is why we made up this… artefact. It took us almost a month, but it succeeded thankfully."

Alongside Dante's words echoed through her ears, more tiny memories appeared in her thoughts. Small flashed of situations that proved his words rather easily. She remembered small fragments of the process while creating that memory-saver, and some random things.

Vessaria went silent for a moment.

"…You want to raise the League of Legends again." She affirmed, not asked.

Dante nodded without hesitation.

"That is true. I want to start over with… some modifications."

Vessaria snorted, something out of character from her.

"I don't remember it clearly right not, but why? There are probably more options even more convenient than doing such a thing. Tell me. We're just both of us and… this prophecy that I can't even remember it straight. I don't get it."

"You yourself said it, Vessaria." He answered with a sly smile. "You do not remember everything. Cannot you trust me? You have already agreed with this. Stop jumping the gun, would you?" He preached with a smile.

Vessaria frowned.

"I'm pretty sure it took more than just some words to convince me. Even if I don't remember, this is still ridiculous." She stated harshly. Dante didn't say anything, he just avoided her stare. Vessaria wrinkled her lips, annoyed. She knew him very well, oh, since long time ago. "You know that this… need to help the other will get yourself killed one day, do you?" She asked coldly.

He faced her with a serene expression.

"It is not a need; it is something I have to do. I need to redeem myself in some way."

She didn't like his answer. Her arms crossed, she looked aside.

"Then, is that a… 'yes'?"

"Do you really need me to agree again?"

"Then I will tell you what will be doing next. Prepare for a long trip!"

…

Above one of the roofs of a house, a tall, young Vastaya was sat. He swung his long legs around the emptiness of the air near the edge of the roof tiles, rocking back and forth his back on what it could be one of the most boring days of his whole life. His eyes darted across the building they currently were stalking to everywhere and everything, idling and doing annoying sounds with his lips.

An exasperated sigh broke free from his mouth at witnessing that actually nothing had happened in the following seconds and minutes as well. The sun greeted his gaze and he tried to feel the joyfulness of the sunny, beautiful day on his feathers. He moved his golden cape aside and showed off his bare chest to the sunlight, trying at least to get some tanning. Five seconds later, he came up with the thought that he couldn't be any sexier, and that the sun was a little hard today.

He didn't give up, though. His body rolled over and his nipples rubbed on the harsh surface, the most sexual sensation he would probably feel today. He rubbed and twitched against it, but he wasn't satisfied. He sighed again.

"Xayaaaaaaah…" He whined loudly, turning his head and watching the purple figure hid on the bricks shadow of the chimney, sharpening some feather with a calculative expression. "I'm starving… Could we get some chocolate?"

"No." She said. Rakan pouted. "Babe, I told you. We can't walk around the city at day. It's risky; not even a week has gone by since that _incident_."

The man grimaced at the cold tone of his girlfriend at the last word.

"What are we waiting, anyway?" He complained again, straightening and sitting with crossed legs. "Girl seems like a dork. We haven't seen her coming out of that tavern since the last time we saw her. Couldn't we just get in and kill her? I bet I could distract those guards at the entry and…"

"Rakan…" She said. He stopped abruptly. She moved gracefully through the roof and landed beside him. Her hand reached up for his cheek. "We need to stick to the plan." Xayah murmured to him, he snorted.

"You came up with way cooler plans. This is so boring!"

She smirked and leaned on his chest. He hugged her hip instinctively and allowed her more space to get her comfortable. Inner doubt gathered inside his heart, unsettling every cell of his. He did like dancing –fighting- bad guys. It was in his blood; he couldn't stand still and just do nothing more than one day. It would kill him slowly.

On the other hand, his chest hurt in pain at just imagining Xayah getting hurt. He wasn't stupid; he knew that the girl they were hunting wasn't helpless. Just one hand raised and a giant root come out of the ground and barely split up in half Xayah. Anger and impotence, all because of not being able to just enter and kill her at once. Because it was risky, because Xayah may get hurt or because that human was dangerous.

All he could do was sat down while she was probably dirtying Ionia's pure wild magic, doing whatever she might want to do with it. The helpless here was him.

" _Just wait till she gets out._ "

…

"Hey, Regina?"

"Yes?"

Regina stopped painting her nails sat down in the kitchen chair and peered up, meeting with the silhouette of Lux resting on the couch while writing down a white book with a pen.

"What's a 'puta'?" She asked curiously, gazing at her with expectation.

Regina blinked and shook her head.

"Well…" She said slowly, switching back again to her task while thinking. "I don't really know, I guess. It was something my grandma said sometimes, only when she was really angry."

"Is that so?" The other one answered, chuckling and rocking her legs on the air. "My grandmother also had her own strange stuff. She always got on the nerves of my mother. They were close, but it was sometimes 'too much', on my mother's own words."

"That's right. I think every old woman has some." Regina said smiling before finishing painting her last nail with black. She closed the nail polish and shook her hands on the air, straightening. "It's a way to address someone you really dislike. It's pretty elegant… Or that's how I'd like to put it."

"Sounds like it. I might use it often."

Regina smiled and grabbed the nail polish, putting it on her pocket before walking to the refrigerator and opening it

"What are you writing, anyways?" She asked, taking out an orange and closing the door. "You were pretty focused on it."

Lux smiled half-heartedly, embarrassment slithering up on her cheeks. She closed her diary and reached for her bag that was on the floor right beside her, putting it inside.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just… some notes I do after… some time doing things." She said slyly, glancing now at her nails, deciding that they were pretty interesting right now.

Regina smirked with complicity. "Alright. I think I'm going to hit the hay. Don't forget tomorrow we got to buy some stuff. I think I'll manage to cook something without the chance of poisoning us."

Lux sighed and nodded, putting her arm on her side. She wasn't eager to find it out. Regina took the orange with her on a dish and walked to her room.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you have a diary." She said, chuckling behind her hair. Lux's face went red.

"Please don't. It's kinda embarrassing…"

Regina rolled her eyes and turned around again. She walked off.

…

Lux fingers touched all across the small silver ring; couldn't help but comparing to the platinum bracelet Garen gifted her long time ago. She held her fist closed while analysing the odd inscriptions on the small circle with a slight frown.

"And you say this will ward off all the evilness around me?" She asked, rising up her eyes to the man behind the small stall in the marketplace.

"Of course, my lady." He smiled. "It's enchanted by very powerful magic. It'll do very good on you."

The black haired girl blinked and switched back again to the ring, narrowing her eyes. She couldn't sense the slightest amount of magic into it, let alone identify the strange marks on its surface. Those scrawls weren't any of the runes she knows, and hell she knew some.

"…I don't know…"

"Why don't you try it? I'm sure you'll feel it as soon as you do." He insisted, pushing slowly the ring on her hands.

Lux calculated her options before sighing a little. It wasn't like the man would tax her for try it out."

She stretched her right hand and focused on one random finger. Her other free hand took the ring by its edges and moved it to the beginning of her nail. One second later, her body froze. Her eyes disconnected off the whole word and stood still, eyeing up the gold ring with the small, but medium sized diamond on her heart finger.

"Hello? Lady?"

The voice of the peddler snapped her out of her trance. She looked up to him, and they both went silent for a moment. His eyes then moved from her face to the golden shiny ring on her finger. She could clearly see his eyes changing, surprise and a little jealously hidden on them.

"That's… quite a beautiful, isn't?" He said out of blue. "It is kind of weird I didn't notice it before."

Lux blinked and moved her hand out of her sight, right behind her back.

"I… could say the same." She answered, puffed.

Her head started to hurt really badly.

"I'm- I'm sorry, I can't afford this." Lux talked up, putting the silver ring on the small table that had a dark cloth on it. "Sorry."

After talking out, she walked away steadily, hiding her face with the strands of her dark hair, hugging her arms with both hands.

Her legs took her again to the small plaza close to the tavern, driving her onto a small bench beside a tree. Her head was a mess, and it was spreading to her neck and arms quickly. Her lips opened up and took in some air countless of times. She forced her own thoughts to stop and her head to blank space.

" _I thought I trashed it?!_ " She cried mentally, now looking at it. " _Why haven't I noticed till now?"_

Every breath took with it some sense to her, but that didn't cease the eerie feeling inside.

" _Why does this kind of stuff keep happening…?"_

She salivated her lips and stared intently the diamond, as if somehow had the answers for her. She then noticed the traces of light magic surrounding every single bit of the wedding ring. That didn't help with her nervousness.

" _I never used light magic on it, why…"_

"Lucy! Thank GODS I found you!"

Lux's back shocked upwards and feeling a hand on her shoulder. She barely had time to see Regina appearing by her side and bumping some bags on her lap. Her arms caught them just in time.

"I thought I lost you! You were supposed to wait outside of Wloomingwhale's!" She beamed indignantly.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry." Lux apologized, hugging the bags with a little shame, feeling a bit bad. "But those women are kind of scary."

"Oh, it was just an offer day, not big deal!" Regina answered dismissively, waving her hand.

"I thought we were buying groceries…?" Lux complained, standing up and holding tight the bags. "I'm not saying that dress you picked is bad; it's actually pretty. But, well, you know."

"Oh, yes, don't worry; we're stealing something from the tavern's kitchen today; that should do it for today!

Lux chuckled. She liked Saul's cooking.

"ANYWAY; after Wloomingwhale's I walked to the marketplace and I can't believe they didn't have kudzu root! I mean, it's a freaking marketplace!" Regina yelled maybe a little too high, starting to walk away. Lux followed. "Did everyone have a rave last night? No way there's nothing left! It is not the only anti-hangover thing, I'm saying!"

Lux tried to smile, but a tired sigh escaped while holding two heavy bags while she kept up with Regina's steady pace. An annoyed feeling stabbed her right into her chest, because she knew she could've carried those bags without any problem some years ago.

" _There are giant shoes in here? So heavy._ "

"Do you get hangovers often?" Lux asked while dodging a huge woman practically running at Wloomingwhale's direction, she assumed.

"Nah, it's for the boys. I make the tablets and sell them." Regina said. "It doesn't matter usually, but now I'm completely out of them."

Lux hummed quietly, thinking her options.

" _I'll probably regret this…_ " Lux thought, eyeing Regina by her eye corner. "I think I saw some kudzu that… time I took a walk on the forest." Regina shot her a slightly surprised look.

Why she was this kind all of sudden?

"I can go and harvest some for you, if you want." She finally finished hesitantly, looking intently to Regina's eyes.

They both slowed down a little, hitting the end of the market place and entering to the tavern street.

"Would you? That'd be great!" She chirped excitedly, smiling. "Do you need any help? When we're off?"

"It's okay, I can handle it." Lux said dismissively, rising up her head to watch the tavern at the distance. They dodged the main entry and walked to the left, entering a small alleyway.

"Are you sure? Aren't you scared of the forest?" The blonde woman said, taking out the keys from her pocket while holding two bags with one arm. "I've hear some stories saying that crazy stuff happens in there. Like, the forest talks you and that."

"…It'll feel like walking back home. I'll be fine."

Regina raised one brow with a puzzled, but cheery smile. She shrugged and said nothing.

"Alright, so I count on you. Thanks." Regina talked before stopping in front of a grey door at the wall.

They both got in after opening it.

…

It was when her steps started to being muffled by the grass when she realized the forest was a couple of meters away from her. The cloak covered her face as she gazed around the environment, feeling the fresh breeze that appeared from nowhere. Her eyes took sight of the tons of different kind of trees and flowers; she even caught at the distance a weird animal running and jumping on the high branches at the trees above.

"I never saw an animal, now that I think about it."

It was another strange stuff for the long list of hers, so she didn't pay any attention. She strode calmly into the directions of the trees and the odd feeling was back again inside her chest. She passed the first tree she run into and raised her hand to stroke it. She wasn't mistaken at feeling nature magic from the three circulating inside her blood, as if was just another one rooted on the ground. Her hand got off it and moved back to her brown cloak.

She did feel like this was home. She smiled heartedly, finding out that she missed the forest even if she hadn't noticed.

"Now. Where are those kudzus?"

…

" _Sexy men always have luck… "_

Rakan played with his golden watch lied down on a giant root high in the forest, watching with attention the black haired human below. Couldn't he jump already? He needed to teach her how to dance at once!

His golden eyes switched to the eerie figure of Xayah, standing up on the branch gracefully. Her pointy ears were sharp and her eyes were also paying attention, but even more intensely. He frowned and a bad feeling itched inside. He got up on a twirl and slipped an arm on her shoulders, hugging her close with his body and golden feather cloak.

"You alright?"

"Why wouldn't I?" She said, holding both her arms against each one.

He deadpanned. She seemed really touched for this.

"This doesn't look good for me. Why aren't we dancing right away? I'm eager to show the human my cool moves."

Xayah smirked and seemed to snap out of whatever she was paying attention out of the girl below.

"You're right. Stick to the plan."

"If dazing the human with my sexiness is the plan, then I'm on!"

…

She started to jump up and down at some point just slightly. The hamper she brought rocked with her as Lux skidded across the grass and the trees, looking for a small and wet clearing. The sounds of the place just calmed her enough to forget that there was an exit outside. It was like being in another word.

Lux peered up with a soft smile, covering the upper edge of her eyes with one hand. The incredibly tall trees blocked quite sky above, but for no avail some sunrays still squeezed inside the green cupule. Even from her position she could tell the sunlight was very warm.

Looking down again, she started moving, gazing around for a good place where kudzu could possibly grow, and maybe some fruitangle if lucky.

It didn't even went by a minute before she spotted a medium-sized open space with grass some meters away, were the sunlight washed all over it and the trees didn't suffocated the plants. Her eyes somehow adjusted to the distance and she spotted a group of bushes with small lilac flowers growing out.

Jumping from the tree shades to the light felt refreshing; and her feet took her in front of them instantly. The sun on her back energized her being as she went down beside the kudzu, taking notice that, despite covering an unlucky tree, both were in perfect conditions.

"Invading nature doesn't mean solitary." She thought aloud, putting the hamper on the grass and opening up the small wooden door of it. "Mind some harvest?"

The wind howled and the grass crunched. Her nose got surprised by the fresh smell all around that suddenly appeared. It was like she was being answered.

She got the hands on the job and took out some roots enough to fill up the hamper, and yet there still was tons of kudzu left to harvest. She closed the hamper and got up, satisfied. Regina would be happy with the results. How would she react? She'll probably treat some cake to her.

She turned around eagerly, ready to set off, when her smile vanished and was replaced with an odd grimace.

"Yo." Rakan said, raising his hand and blinking at Lux, making her a little self-concious. She stood there, staring at him. "Wanna dance some?" He smiled seductively, twirling his cape around and showing his muscles.

"Not at all, I must say." She replied, couldn't helping but feeling flustered at staring his nipples. Wasn't he embarrassed showing them off all the time? Mother would be scandalized.

"Seriously? Seriously? Lame." He honestly said, his word steering truly disappoint.

The trees around crunched unpleasantly and the mage's eyes widened, her body startling. She swiftly spun her head around just in time to spot a good bunch of magic purple feathers flying speedily at her, all of them surely aiming to vital points. Lux's head blackened out for an instant before breathing some air. She hugged the hamper tightly in her chest and ducked down to roll aside on the greenness. Her nose brushed against the harsh dirt while all the feathers pinned the ground in straight line right where she was seconds ago. They were stood upright, the angle of drop pointing where the Vastaya man was. The black haired girl got up after frowning and glared again at Rakan, looking for the one who was still left.

The Vastaya woman jumped out of the woods right from where some shades materialized, and touched down the ground with her feet beside at her, now she assumed, lover with a bored expression.

"Babe, the human dodged the feathers!" He shouted at Xayah with an amused tone. "Oooh! Someone just avoided your perfect aiming!"

"That's what I'm seeing, darling." She answered, giving him a look, annoyed. Why didn't she hit the shots, anyways? "Thanks for pointing it out."

"No problem!" He said innocently, smiling warmly just to her. Xayah sighed. "Now this will be funnier than I thought!" He screamed with unsettling joy, from Lux's point of view. And not a single second later, he took his cap and dashed across the grass directly at Lux.

Lux's face showed off surprise before she dropped the hamper without harming it on the grass. She didn't think twice at stretching her left hand, trying to canalize light magic and summon her staff. One millisecond later, where she should already feel the familiar warmness on her hand, an empty space stood instead. Lux panicked.

" _I'm brimming nature magic! Where's my light?_ " She thought after checking inside for her core. She needed to gather light magic right away! _"No time for this! I'll have to use up all this nature magic!_ "

"You shouldn't be ignoring your dancing partner!"

Rakan appeared at her side skidding on the grass, with his brawny arm raised, ready to (or at least she thought) slap everything. Her instincts kicked in and she raised her right arm to block the blow that was directed (she can't believe it) at her cheek. She spun her body at him fiercely and knocked him out of balance, ready to raise her leg and give out a well-deserved sidekick.

His surprised face felt better than a thousand of cakes, and she knew it'll feel even dreamy when she got her leg on his ribs. But then his face suddenly snickered and Lux frowned. She jumped out of the way just when another round of feathers darted the air flying at her from her side, pinning again the ground and some trees in the process.

Lux landed a meter away and quickly scooted some space back, breathing heavily. Half happy, half annoyed.

"I'm _tired already?! Shoot!_ " She cried in her head, ignoring her muscles that were aching. " _I'm a mage, right?!_ " The voice within demanded, triggering her eyes green as so the edges of her hair. " _…On the other hand, I can't believe I put up with those battle moves. I'm still sharp… yes."_

Xayah leaned coolly on her feet after shooting another wave of feathers, calm and steady as always, ready to fire some sharp stuff again at seeing Lux wasn't paying attention. Her stoic face was knocked off at seeing a beam of green light shimmering through Lux's hair and eyes.

And there she was again.

"Dance! Or lose some toes!" Xayah shouted at her, throwing more and more feathers, aiming to the legs.

Rakan who was somehow again at Xayah's side, roared with excitement and laughed loudly as he jumped forward, this time with golden magic coming out his cape.

"All right, girl, round two!"

Lux scoffed and canalized all the magic she's got on her hands speedily. Her eyes sharpened and everything around her slowed as she analysed the battlefield. The man was indeed running at her, covering conveniently all the front of his lover, making it impossible to get to her by melee.

" _This is like back again at the Fields of Justice._ " She couldn't help but think, switching glaring between them. _"Just ignore the tank and get rid of the carry. How hard could it be? People usually explode when my magic catches up with them._ "

Rakan was practically flying over the ground with a cool pose, thinking how cool was going to be his next move, when he noticed the burst of magic feeling beside his back, alongside with an eruption sound. His feathers twitched and he forced his body to an halt, skidding on the ground and turning around, spotting two of the most gigantic roots he ever saw exploding out of the grass behind Xayah, twirling around and attempting to smash her against the dirt.

"XAYAH, WATCH OUT!" He screamed, starting to run at her even faster.

The Vastaya woman didn't need his warning to notice the threat behind her. Her body twisted in a spider-pose just barely avoiding the thick brown root, using her hands to support her weight, using them again to push herself up in the air, landing again on her feet. She exhaled off some air before sidestepping another round of strikes, and another, and another, never losing the sight of Lux, taking notice that she was still pumping out magic. She saw another thread of magic sneaking inside the dirt below, right behind Rakan.

"Behind you!" She cried to the Vastaya man.

Xayah's voice snapped him out. Another root came out from his rear, rising dominantly and twirling dangerously to his spine. His mind reacted instantly and his magic fanned out, shielding him. Out of some centimetres away from his skin, golden magic showed up, making the root to brush against the smooth but hard protection, being unable to run through it. He t'ched, and looked over his shoulder angrily, noticing oddly easily that the forest magic surrounding Lux started to fade quickly and became weak. His cue to go.

Lux lowered her hand, feeling like she just held for hours one hellish of a heavy glass and breathed deeply, taking some moments to worry about her lungs that were wringing her out.

" _That was exhausting._ " Lux thought, seeing Rakan breaking his shield to run at Xayah's side again. She left him be; it gave her enough time to recover a little. "Uf… huh…"

Lux straightened as best as she could and supported her back on a weird pose with her arms, still breathing deeply. The lovers said something but she didn't hear them, too busy identifying off the light magic around her. Strength started to come back to her. Her face slowly, but safely started to lighten inevitably.

"Alright, alright... I got this. You just wait! I'll punish you!" She chirped, raising her left arm, which started to shine.

Rakan swirled around Xayah's silhouette distressingly, squeezing her with his cape while inspecting quickly her wellbeing.

"You alright?" He whispered worriedly, seeking bruises. A white gleam drew his attention spotting how the human's hand glowed brilliantly. "Yipes! She's got more magic?!"

Xayah's stare didn't falter on Lux, ignoring Rakan's voice. Her lower lip trembled just slightly as she held her broken wrist. Rakan frowned.

"Shit! Is your waist okay?!" He said alarmed, reaching up for it to hold it carefully. Xayah's shook off his grasp afterwards, denying him. "Babe, are you sure you can keep on?" He said, not even him believing what he was saying. When's the last time they run away from a battle? Hell, it was embarrassing for him and his tribe!

"Don't be ridiculous, Rakan, I'm fine." She said dismissively, waving off his worriedness with a crooked smile. He whined. "My last nerve has vanished alongside making her death quickly and bloodless. This is starting to get annoying."

"You don't need to push yourself that much!" He complained, grabbing her jab to force her to look at him. "You worry me."

Lux was getting bored and maybe a little sick with the cheesiest scene she has ever seen; should her take account on sitting down to wait? Or maybe trying breaking the ice with a light pun? Her staff gleamed, almost challenging her to fire a laser through both their heads. She could've killed them right away after summoning her battle tool, but that would be disgusting, and it also would be listening to the voice inside her head that said "just do it." She promised long time ago she'd stop killing people unnecessarily, or Vastaya people like them.

So instead, it'll do better to just mess around with them. When's the last time she played with her light magic, anyways? The day before she turned thirteen, the last time of her poor-not-so-called normal life?

She snickered behind her hair devilishly, the tiny sparkles coming out of the golden edges of her staff covering every single part of her visible body to turn into nothing. A second spell, learned in the magic academy, to muff her steps and another one for breath. Then, she hid her magic and waited patiently.

"Rakan, we're not doing this here. We'll discuss this later after ending the human!" Xayah said to him exasperatedly, slapping away Rakan's big hand off her face.

"Fine! But I'm not leaving your side." He answered stubbornly, sticking to her arm, turning his head around right to the same spot to face Lux again. One second later, his skin went pale. "Uh… Babe?"

"What." She beamed treacherously, spinning a quarter to him and summoning more feathers on her hand.

"Where's the human?"

Xayah blinked and looked around, effectively checking on Rakan's words. Both pair of gazes eyes rummaged back and forth all over the clearing. Xayah whirled her head around, her body language telling on her messed state while Rakan snorted in disbelief, half surprised, half amused.

"NO way!" He laughed, huffing loudly and hopping to random directions, still having a small hope Lux was still around. "She ran away while we SPEAKED?!"

He expected some kind of answers from behind, but silence reigned everywhere. Rakan slowly turned around, facing his lover. She was still seeing the trees, not reacting. Not being so sure about what he should do, Rakan cautiously approached, putting softly his hand on her shoulder. He tried to smile.

"Babe, uh…" He tried to say, flustered.

Lux pushed both her hands on her lips to avoid choking in laughter, being just a couple of meters away from Xayah, seeing her inscrutable, dark face. Rakan hugged tightly Xayah from behind and lied down his jab on her shoulder, ruffling his feathers on her heartedly.

"…I'm sorry. She disappeared because of me." He muttered. Xayah didn't say anything. He stroked his nose against her cheek like a smacked hurt dog, trying to snatch some reaction from her. "Hey, what if, what if we sneak in some human town and chill out in a tavern?"

"The human fled." She said. Rakan cringed. "Running, walking, I don't even now. I wasn't paying attention. … She fled while I wasn't paying attention. Who the fuck I am? How this could happen? She just vanished, I can't sense her magic!"

Rakan's answer was to just squeeze her tighter, hoping that it would do to her. Xayah didn't rejected his touch although didn't relax on it.

Lux's feet took her irremediably closer to them, rounding their shapes incredibly quietly by just tiptoeing (thank God Miss Minerva for her classes) and sneaking behind them. She held shut her laughter because the spell doesn't hide the pitch or loud ones, especially hers: a unique one (she was very proud). She stood on her toes and leaned slowly her face above the shoulder of the man known as Rakan, getting ready.

"It's okay, babe, we'll track her down." He reassured, rocking both their bodies slightly back and forth. "She can't be that far away, she-"

"Boo!"

Goosebumps quaked all the way from Xayah's feet to head. She showed off an incredibly spectacle of strength at breaking free from Rakan's grab, her pupils dilating and her whole senses chirring sharply. Rakan managed to get off the way of a bunch of feathers being thrown at his direction by throwing himself onto the dirt, staring shocked to Xayah.

Tons of emotions swirled inside his chest. Pain, heartache, brokenness, betrayal. His lips were about to open to have a serious talk with his girlfriend, not so sure about what he heard seconds ago, when he saw one of the weirdest things he saw… probably this week. The human was sat comfortably on the grass, as if this whole meeting was something to relax at. Her whole body was half transparent. Every colour of her clothes, skin and hair was still there, but blurred. He could actually see through her forwards the clearing and the forest. And he could see her smiling confidently.

"What the heck?"

"Battlefield is not the best of times to discuss… couple issues, don't you think?" She said with muckiness, moving her eyebrows to underline her words. Xayah grimaced. "I'm not one for those who doesn't focus on the fight."

"Enough of chitchat, then!" Xayah blurted out with annoyance, hands full of feathers. "This is not a game. Quit messing around."

"Oh, I'm the only one messing around?" Lux said, astonished, but not really. "And then what? Let you kill me?"

"If you are willingly to do it, but I don't promise your death will be painless." The Vastaya woman proposed dryly, caressing her daggers. She then looked up at Lux. "Now. Dance."

Rakan knew he had to stick up for his beloved girlfriend, being unmanly to just let her with another girl killing themselves in a death battle. But his gut told him that maybe it wasn't the best choice for him to choose. His feathers were hideously wrinkled, his heart shocked for what Xayah almost did to him, and he was feeling like he had enough beating-up for today. Maybe he'll end up being killed instead, so he scooted quietly away from the fight and hugged the grass, staring intently the exchange.

"Stand out of this, Rakan." Xayah hissed, narrowing her eyes and tightening her grab on the feathers. "She's mine."

He hummed in agreement, not really wanting to get on Xayah's bad side, but secretly preparing some magic to jump in if it was needed. Lux paid him an amused gaze.

"Making up for your honour, I like it." Lux said, smiling defiantly. "I like people who stand up for their problems and don't put pressure on other people to solve them instead."

Rakan gulped, and cautiously paid an eye to Xayah. Even from there, he could she her teeth tightening.

"I'm not making anyone to help me." She argued harshly with her lips smashing against each other.

"It doesn't seem like that, if you ask me." Lux said innocently, standing up in a normal way; completely different at the moves she showed off minutes ago. "I won't let you kill me. Those feathers are way too harsh for me, thank you."

"We'll see that."

Xayah crossed her hands and charged them towards Lux, throwing a torrent of shiny purple feathers at her. Lux immediately hoisted her staff over her head, twirling it around swiftly above her body. A prismatic bubble-shaped shield appeared and shielded her from every single impact with ease, deflecting the feathers at one side. Xayah t'ched. There it was the chances of going hand by hand.

" _Not a single scratch._ " She thought acidly, throwing again another wave of feathers. The same scenario triggered, but this time Lux's smug face was pretty much visible. " _Not only she knows how to fight, but she's also a mage?_ "

" _I'm not on those stupid matches anymore._ " Lux hummed, breaking apart the shield and throwing two bulbs of light at the Vastaya girl. A vacuum materialized inside each one of them as a field of transparent light irradiated off them, attempting to catch the her legs. " _I'm not weak here._ "

Xayah jumped out of the reach of the light as she threw another bunch of feathers at her. Lux exploded the orbs of light she threw, not hitting Xayah, luckily for her. She was about to raise another shield to block the projectiles, when a golden shadow appeared behind. Lux's muscles suddenly stiffed at feeling how golden magic forced everything around her on a circle shape in a stasis state.

She somehow managed to look over her shoulder and saw Rakan smirking at her with amusement.

"Do you really think I'd let you mess with my babe?" He beamed a tint of angriness not so hidden in his voice. Matter of fact, all kind of attempt to step out of the battle wilted away at seeing that weird light attacking his girlfriend. His chest tightened around his heart and it almost killed him. How could he not help her when he knew Xayah hated sunshine?

Lux secretly wondered if he had some kind of bipolarity.

She could've answered smartly, but the mage could already hear the air being cut by the feathers as they flew. So she smiled. "Of course not."

Since the man's magic only affected her physic body, and was just weak enough, she forced her light magic to circulate inside at speedier rate, and then on her skin, pushing away his magic off her body. Lux shined even more than Rakan and disappeared out of sight.

"What?! No fair!" He whined childishly, somersaulting in the air to dodge Xayah's feathers. His feet landed on the ground and looked around on and on, seeking for her. "She can get invisible?!"

" **That's right, ha, ha!** " Lux's voice echoed through everywhere, making it impossible to tell where she was. Rakan's eyes widened. " **Where am I? Maybe… under your CAPE?** "

"What?!" Rakan panicked, reaching for his cape and spinning on his feet at least four times, looking intently at every single golden feather of it. When he was sure nobody was hiding in there, he sighed in relief. "She's not here, babe!" He screamed at Xayah.

The Vastaya woman fought really hard to not go there and punch him in the face.

"Just focus! She's just messing with you!" Xayah said with an attempt of patience, squeezing till the last drop her magic senses, trying to sense the tiniest of that light magic she was getting to hate. One bare second later of no avail, she gave up and summoned even more feathers. "I'm done with this shit."

Rakan's eyes twitched in recognition and hugged himself in his cape, getting out of the way and hoping between the battlefield and Xayah's range. Lux's followed him by the gaze, hearing some excited banter coming out from there. The feeling sunk in one second later.

" **Wait, that's not nice!** " Lux squeaked, actually some meters away, in front of them. " **Should we talk about this?** "

"If you don't show yourself, then I'll make you do it." Xayah said in what it would be a threat, specifically one you wouldn't be able to ponder with. The Vastaya stiffed every single muscle of hers and gained momentum slowly crouching down, her cape levitating just slightly. Then, she jumped high in the air and whirled frenetically, blurring her whole shape and firing hundreds of feathers at everywhere and everything on there. "Feathers fly!"

Lux cut the small bunch of magic she was canalizing to her throat to give it the echo effect and twirled again her staff, trying to shield herself again, and inevitably appearing again in sight.

"Nope!" Rakan practically skyrocketed to her side with a sparkling smile, somehow passing by the feathers with celerity and getting to her, using the same movement as before. "Come on!"

Lux immediately tried to get ger light magic to break free from the magical grasp, but this time was impossible.

" _His magic is stronger than before._ " She though, distressed. " _I'm one hundred positive this will hurt._ " She lamented, her brows trying to furrow, the golden magic not even allowing it.

Xayah expulsed off some air from her lungs, satisfied at seeing that Lux wasn't doing anything weird to get out of the tricky situation. But when she seemed that the mage wasn't escaping from this one, a bright light like a beacon shimmered intensely just as the feathers made contact with the golden aura. She didn't hear any screams of pain let alone a body dropping off the ground.

A vein threatened to blow up below her crimson hair, starting to feel exhausted at keep using more and more magic. Her inner magic core sighed in tiredness but she ignored it, still keeping up. She gathered magic out of nowhere and lifted, this time, just a few feathers, pointing them at the blindness coming in front of her. She just hoped Rakan was okay.

However when the light faded off the sight, Xayah froze.

"Crap… That hurt… What happened…?" Rakan whined, scratching his furry ears with his hand while stretching his muscles on the grass, feeling oddly off.

"Don't even mention it. I think one of my feathers ripped off my precious cape!" Said Rakan in front of him, lied down as well. He straightened his back and rubbed her cape with a pout.

"What?! It's my cape alright?! What…?" Rakan said, looking in front of him. He stopped right in tracks and his mouth formed a perfectly 'o' shape in his lips. "What the heck?! It's me! But I'm not looking into a mirror!"

Rakan let his cape slung again on his shoulders and faced Rakan in front of him. His eyes widened and almos choking on his saliva.

"BABE! WHO'S this?! I think someone is trying to take over me!" He screamed, standing up immediately, the other Rakan doing it as well. "YO! Buzz off! Don't even try replace me! You're nowhere near my sexiness!"

"Are you kidding me?! You're the fake here!" Rakan replied, extremely offended. He then proceeded to push his cape completely over his shoulder to show all his muscles. "Don't you see THIS? Unmatchable, Hot!" He beamed loudly, flexing his bicep with a cocky expression.

Xayah's face paled, the headache that appeared slicing like a knife on her brain. She did pledge her true and everlasting love to Rakan long time ago because he managed to shatter the thick stone walls she built around her heart. But two of them were maybe a little more than she could possibly handle.

"Xayah! Tell this idiot I'm sexier!" Rakan cried, looking at her and pointing with disgust at Rakan. "I'm WAY better than _this_!"

"You so lame!" Rakan countered with a mocking smirk. The other Rakan frowned. "Darling of course will choose the one who DO satisfy her truly! Me." The man said as if it was the most logic thing in the word.

"Man, you're so pathetic!" Rakan said, taking one step closer, letting his face inches away from the other Rakan's. Xayah started to feel sick. "Are you even big ENOUGH?"

" _Oh my God, no…_ " Xayah thought. Rakan was… very fond of his capacities concerning his lower region, being pretty driven when they have some action. She couldn't exactly remember when was the last time someone had dared and mocked him about it, but she did remember it was a bloody day. " _One of them is an impostor._ " She pondered coolly, switching out of one to another swiftly. " _But who, then? I don't have time to ask around questions. There's just one way._ "

"Watch over that filthy mouth of yours, or I'll slap all of you!" Rakan warned, growling dangerously, not backing off the closeness between him and his counterpart.

"Perfect! Some violence for this body!" Rakan said with an eager smile. "Bring it on whenever you want!"

"Alright, SHUP UP YOU TWO!" Xayah screamed out for some silence, stepping in and walking to them. Both Rakan's stopped glaring daggers at each other to stare her, their eyes changing to an angry brightness, to recognition and worried. The Vastaya woman felt slightly disturbed at that. Both looked exactly the same, and she couldn't tell right away which one was hers. The human was scary. "Rakan! Quit playing and just use some of your magic! No one can copy it, dummy!"

She expected just one of them to smirk cockily as always because the test was infallible; every single magic, no matter if being the same kind of type, was different. But they both smiled with confidence and posed.

"This is it! Prepare to be destroyed!" Rakan at the left said, raising his hand.

"You wish!" Rakan at the right replied, raising not one but two hands.

One second later, the familiar glimmering of golden light grew off their skins, surrounding everything around them, alongside with their capes. Xayah's eyes widened.

" _It can't be possible!_ "

"What?! No friggin' way!" Rakan exclaimed, almost ditching his pose.

"Don't move!"

Both Rakan's startled at hearing Xayah screaming again. They didn't dare to gaze her; her eye was twitching. Xayah focused spaced out, only listening and feeling the magic around her. Her eyes then chose the Rakan at the left; she analyzed his magic, felt it. It was warm, protective, the same magic that held her at night while she sleeps and the same that saved her life countless times. " _This is it, but hold on…_ "

Her eyes then moved to the Rakan at the right, doing the same carefully. She tried to connect her magic to him, try to feel it, but she couldn't. Every single attempt to be one with it was either rejected or not accepted. The magic was transparent, empty, it had nothing she craved.

When Lux realized Xayah was checking on their magic, it was too late.

Xayah didn't say anything but raised her hand. A snap was enough to call every single feather that were behind this Rakan, forcing them back onto her hand again. The feathers that were pinned at the trees and the ground croaked before returning speedily back to their user. That Rakan didn't have the moment to react. Every single feather slashed against him and fastened with each other, making his arms and legs go smashed against the body.

"Found you."

He stared at her slightly surprised, the mask he was wearing falling apart one instant later. He looked at her with an expression it definitely looked completely out of place, an expression she thought she would never see on his face. Wickedness. But as soon as it appeared, it left.

"Got caught… That's not funny." He said, the whole body starting to get transparent again, going on the same effect as the mage did before. The wholeness changed obnoxiously, revealing again the black-haired girl. The cuts that were supposed to be on his body appearing on her skin, but they were superficial. Xayah would believe her feathers were sharper than that. "Congratulations! I should've remembered you people had a better time while sensing magic… and… I guess I it is enough playing…"

"Don't worry for that." Xayah said, feeling safer at sensing Rakan moving back to her side again. She was still disturbed. "I'll take care of that."

"Oh, please, loosen up a little." She said cheerfully, but this time a little quietly. Xayah could even feel that Rakan was starting to feel uneasily. "It is just a game. Just a few bruises here and there, not big deal." She said with a smile, trying to break free off the ropes uncomfortably, attached to the ground. She chuckled. "Plus, you forgot something."

Xayah's gut told her to back off, but her pride wouldn't let her do it. Rakan, in the other hand, swung his arm around her neck, pushing himself at her. His face was hardened by uneasiness.

Lux's closed her eyes for a moment and focused some magic in them, trying to give them enough time to react; hoping that that time was enough. If not, then it'd be a mess. "…My laser sight!" She shouted, bursting her eyes open out of blue, showing off one pair of blue eyes charged with rainbow colors.

Rakan reacted. He pushed her out of the way off two lasers that fired instantly. He managed to land first on the grass instead her to avoid getting her hurt. The movement was abrupt, but Xayah saw how the laser got lost into the forest, melting everything that messed on its way. Xayah breathed deeply.

"Uf… It's been long time since I did that…" Lux laughed tiredly, trying to shake off the ropes again, with no avail. Her eyes went back to normal after. "That… That was so funny… Uh…"

Rakan helped Xayah to stand up, taking her right away some meters away from Lux. The Vastaya woman had her eyes fixed on the human and not stopped having her senses feeling her magic.

" _Something's wrong. What's happening in there?_ " She wondered, watching the white magic inside her core trembled and threatened to fade. The green magic of the forest backed off for it, this time being a meter away from the human.

"Babe, let's just ditch her here. I don't want to risk you anymore." Rakan pleaded whispering against her ear, slowly pushing her onto his chest, but Xayah stood on her place. "Please!"

"Wait, just see her." Xayah muttered, her eyes wide. "Don't you feel something on her? Something's happening."

"Shit, no! She's crazy! Didn't you see what just happened?" He screamed desperately, sounding really scared. "Let's just run while we can! I'm worried about you!"

Xayah was still frozen on there. She kept staring at Lux, whose eyes were starting to fail. He hissed angrily, but his grab around her only tightened. He wasn't abandoning her, and she knew it. They just went quiet, not doing anything.

"This is… not good… This is not… supposed to be happening… Why…" Lux sighed off, the fatigue being palpable on her words. "…Crap."

Xayah saw how her magic on feathers disappeared by an unknown source and how the body they were holding fell off on the grass with a loud thump. The white magic inside Lux's core started to vanish away, giving way to a dark, pitch one, which crept from her back. The darkness devoured everything and closed itself against Lux, not even letting near the green magic that was incredibly still trying to approach her. The girl was out cold.

Rakan didn't say anything to her when she stepped out his grab and walked to the unconscious girl on the ground. Feeling her magic was a little harder than most of humans she tried with. The obscure magic was like a pile of papers that gave her a glimpse of how many bad things that someone has ever done, and at what point they could've possibly reached. The leftovers of the haunted magic of the people whose lives has been taken by the human were visible to her. The number was uncertain, but she could already tell it was horrid. It was sickening, and then she knew it. She knew that the girl on the ground has killed more living beings than her and Rakan. She knew that the girl had a very long background which started off long time ago. Some magic traces were from times she could've sworn she hadn't even been born. They were ancient and it did not relate to anything she knew.

The human was similar as how the old Vastayan tales said about creatures being consumed by its magic. She knew that something about the girl's behavior had something to do with her magic, especially the dark one. She had already shown two different behaviors as the battle went by. It wasn't the first time she ran into someone like that, and none of those experiences were pleasant. That didn't explain how she had on her older magic than her very own. How could someone have such a dark amalgam inside and still not crumble before it? It was thanks to that annoying light magic?

No matter what, it was none of her business. It would do better without people like her on the world. Xayah's face twisted dismissively.

For every finger she had in her hand, she summoned one feather. Five feathers, then, appeared, aimed to the human's heart. Xayah gained momentum and Rakan looked aside, not really wanting to see what was about to happen next. Usually, the people they kill wear armors and thick clothes, but the human was dressed light. It'd be very graphic.

The feathers flew off her fingers by her command, and the forest croaked. Her hair flew aside thanks to the wind who howled out of blue, bringing with it five leaves that darted out of the forest near, skidding on the air and connecting with each one of the feathers in middle air. Her eyes followed them, astonished, as how the leaves successfully blocked away each possible killing hit silently. They didn't make it not even near Lux before dropping on the grass. The forest went silent. She could hear her heart beating frenetically.

Xayah took one step back, slightly putted on the edge. Her breath became unsteadily and then she didn't know what she should do. Rakan was already on her side, looking as just surprised as her.

"Did those leaves..?" He tried to say carefully and silently.

"Yeah, they blocked the blows." Xayah muttered before he can even finish his sentence, staring at the leaves. They didn't have any kind of nature magic resulting from the girl below.

Rakan's lips shut on each other, uncomfortable. He looked at her, expecting new orders. Xayah looked back at him, then Lux, whose dark aura was still holding her, but wasn't doing anything to harm them. She knew magic was alive, but this was a new level.

"The forest, the magic itself… is protecting her. Why it would protect those who trespassed in? Those who only had destroyed it? I'd like to know." She said bitterly, looking down. She took one moment before keep talking. "You won't like what I'll want to do."

"I don't care, Xayah." He said solemnly. "I've already told you I'll be with you forever. No matter what, I'm sticking around."

Xayah managed to smile weakly, leaning on his chest. She resisted the urge to hide on him. Why everything has to be so difficult?

"We'll get her to the elderly. They'll know what to do." She said slowly. Rakan frowned. "She just uses the forest's magic as if the place was her game room. I just can't let that happen. I need answers."

"Bringing a human to our very own tribe…" Rakan reviewed on her words. "Are you sure about that? They won't be happy."

"Don't be so sure about that. It's been long time since we dropped by, Rakan." Xayah answered coolly, shaking her head. "…Just pick her up and don't forget tying her. We still got a long way till home."

"It's been ages since we stopped at home!" Rakan said, this time with more joyfulness on his voice. Xayah felt better hearing him like that. Rakan walked up to Lux, who was still on the ground. He hesitated some seconds before crouching down and picking her up, lifting her like a potato bag. His magic triggered and two long golden feathers surrounded her, fastening her legs and arms. At experiencing that nothing was trying to kill him, he sighed in relief. "Alright, let's go!"

…

Lux hugged herself as she found again facing the pitch darkness she though it would never appear again. Her black hair made caressed her cheeks as she floated boringly in the dark, not being able to see and hear nothing. Her steady breath slowly loosened up after a very long time. She felt annoyed; this wasn't supposed to happen. But not only it did, this time it was stronger. She couldn't have had fight back this time for an odd reason. Last time at least she had her own thoughts sorted in an understandable way.

"Why does it happen whenever I hit the forest?" She tried to talk to the nothing, being probably the only thing on there. But it felt like she was thinking. "I thought this was just once thing."

The memories after passing out were blurry but she had an idea what happened before the dark magic took over her. Would she be dead? Unlikely. This scenario was exactly the same since the first time it happened to her, and the same as the last time since she stepped out the forest after meeting Takeo. She woke up after that with an almost completely healthy body, but her mind. In that time, it was messy, but right now she was more worried about what was happening outside this place. She didn't know how to escape, or wake up, if she was truly asleep, which probably was the bigger chance on her options.

Her inners tried to reach up for some magic to try and do something, but it was for no avail. It was empty. That fact didn't scare her as how it should like.

Will this keep happening till the day she dies? How people would react at seeing her passing out random one day and another? Was it getting frequent? Lux didn't know exactly what she did wrong. Dante's words assured her that as long she doesn't fight back her light magic, things will be alright. They were just empty words? Did she read him wrong? In any case, it still seemed off to her. Will he take too much time to contact her again?

Although dozens of thoughts set off to one place to another inside her head, her expression was emotionless. Her soft face stood frozen on its place while just existing. The outcome of the burst of thinking was how much tightwad her magic needed to be at her. She just couldn't figure it out.

The dark corners of the vacuum jail lit up by a blue light. It took her some seconds to realize what was happening before a familiar blue flame materialized in front of her. She was shocked out of her trance. Her eyes analyzed it before her features twitched up in recognition.

The feeling was… like awakening up after a long night sleep. She suddenly felt how the blood inside her veins and arteries vibrated livingly, dragging inside her skin. The first, pure thing, she felt was surprise. It was strange; as if it was the first time she has ever experienced it. Was she so spaced out?

The bad thoughts backed off as soon as she felt the aura of fox magic. She smiled softly, raising her two arms to hold it on her hands. Warmness darted across her being and she felt her heart beating again, alive. The blue flame flew away from her grasp all the way till stopping some meters away. She knew what would happen next, so she moved after.

White lightness sparkled in the dark and twirled around itself, creating a beautiful portal to the other side. As she swum peacefully, commanded by her own instincts, golden strings erupted out from the slim portal, moving swiftly towards her with rocking moves.

Lux's eyes snapped open with slightly surprise at spotting the unfamiliar kind of magic surrounding her and taking her body by the arms and legs. She strangely found herself not needing to swim anymore because the magic started to pull her towards the portal as if was impatient for her to wake up already. It wasn't gentle as the green strings from the last time, and it was getting her on the edge.

Some words tried to split off her word involuntarily, but she just couldn't. So she let the magic be. She reached the exit even faster than last time, and with her head focused only on the strange occurrence. When the last moments inside the odd kind of dimension, she didn't notice the purple mist behind her, way too far to even sense it. It didn't try to approach.

…

Some sense slapped on her face and the first thing she sensed was dizziness. Her head blurred every attempt of recognize her environment and the only thing which was worked inside her mind was that she really needed to lay down bit. Then, the next thing came. Her eyes focused and rolled straight in front of her; a gleam of golden magic shined on top of her head, blinding her momentarily. That man was standing in front of her, now looking strangely gorgeous. She took note of his sharp features, and how his blue eyes were similar with hers. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but notice that he was shirtless, and the only thing he had on his torso was his golden, beautiful cape with that red collar that had a bird skull with purple feathers. A cocky smile flied her to cloud nine, especially the way his abs stiffed, even if they were half-covered by that unfortunate fabric that came from his pants. Her eyes keep peering down, passing by his red ropes that acted as his belt, also with two bird skulls, and then she saw his legs. The end of his pants, more specifically.

The golden bubble exploded in a million of pieces obnoxiously, leaving a bitter taste on her mouth. Without the help of her light magic, she realized she was again under his charming spell. She wasn't into half-animal people, after all. It was amusing how her face changed from utterly adoration to a disappointed one. His feathered-pointy hears twitched slightly, noticing his sudden change. His posture eased just a little and he seemed to be gathering some words to say to her.

She didn't wait for him to speak up, so instead she decided to extend her rationality and to give him the cold shoulder. Her movements were restrained, she found it out at trying to stretch some sore muscles thanks to the very uncomfortable position she has been on. It felt like she was getting oiled by every small movement she managed to do, getting some crack sounds as response. Some emptiness kicked in on her stomach and she frowned, deciding that it felt like ghost-pain from some punches, despite not being like that at all. Had been she carried? That would explain the giddiness. Her head was getting un-hot at every second her back was straight. The blood was flowing down her head back to its place. So she was carried like a bag. Funny.

Her eyes looked even further and then she noticed she was still on the forest. The flora, however, was very different as how she remembered it. If before there were tall, different kinds of trees everywhere, now there were some of them being comparable with the height of small hills. They displayed a mix between dark brown and gray, and she couldn't exactly guess where they stopped growing high in the sky. It was like an illusion where you could see the end but not tell how long it was the way to reach it. It thickness was easily visible, and the leaves were either dark green or mud brown. Barely, if nothing, sunlight trespassed. Some coldness flew on the air right around her bare forearms and ankles, making her to slightly shudder.

" _So cold suddenly… My cloak can't do anything about it. Now that I think of, it is already December. Christmas is close…_ " Lux thought idly, rocking herself around the feathers, trying to warm herself up. Then, she frowned. " _Wait… that Christmas thing was thanks to the League of Legends. But now it doesn't exist anymore. We didn't even know of it before… I wish Dante was here to ask about it… I think Regina said something…? Could it be?_ "

Rakan mildly stared at her while he relaxed lying against one tree, keeping his distance and waiting Xayah to come back again from her reconnaissance, noticing that Lux seemed lost in thought. His brows twisted in puzzlement at seeing her behavior; as how she examined all around herself critically, and then how she went back in thought. It was like a jailed animal at its first woke up in the cell.

Xayah told him to wake her up. They were close home and she didn't want any trouble while getting in, let alone getting the human mistakenly harmed if she tried to break free inside the tribe. She was very clear, and he didn't want to risk himself anymore for now.

His hands aching snapped him out for a moment. He peered down, opening and closing them, the thing getting him slightly uneasy. Xayah didn't exactly tell him to force her awake by using his magic, but he got pretty tired after trying with the slaps and shakes. Using his magic with her, however, left him with a… profaned feeling. He couldn't shake off this strange sensation.

" _I wonder if Regina's worrying about me… She'll be alright with the tavern?_ " Lux sighed silently and dumped her back on the tree as much as she could without putting herself uncomfortable, her point of attention being the pretty bird that was standing high on one branch. Her pupils trembled, making her self-conscious. An imaginare hole appeared on her face. " _Why is he staring at me? Didn't he do enough?_ "

" _What's with this human?_ " Rakan wondered while he pierced glares unapologetically at Lux, his face bored. " _Damn... What's taking Xayah so long? She ditched me with this girl, jeez…"_

" _Do I have something on the face?_ " She annoyingly thought, this time her lips wrinkling. A whirl of air hit inside her mind. " _Oh, he's mad. That's right; he's so fond of his girlfriend. His pride is broken. A pretty girl made him and his loved sweat cold._ "

" _I could end her right now._ " Rakan t'ched at his own thoughts, agreeing unconditionally. Lux glared at him, raising one brow at him doing that noise but she didn't say anything. Her disgusted expression got him, though. _"Be glad that Xayah spared you. Why her, out of everyone? Her dance moves sucks._ "

" _He's like an annoying puppy that licks after all his master's footprints. So pitiful!_ " Her obscure thoughts suddenly forced to remind her some past memories. " _And I wasn't like that at all before. … … AT ALL."_

Lux scoffed at herself, angry at her own thoughts. She cleared out those memories off her head and made that bird the object of her admiration.

"Hey."

His voice was like a shot in the open, ironically. Lux snapped at him with an annoyed and questioning face, turning her glance towards him now. The bird she was looking just flew away at Rakan's voice triggering. He stood straight on his legs, leaving the tree, and strolled at her, covering up the meters between each other again. He stopped right in front of her, his bird feet brushing against the grass, forcing her to give them a well-deserved eyeing up. However, not as she would expect, they didn't look grotesque. They somehow fitted on him, something made just for him. She resisted the urge to scold herself for ever pointing something positive out of him.

He eyed her up from above, taking notice how she was tied up all the way from her shoulders to her knees, Xayah's doing because she 'wanted to make sure she won't do anything insane.' Her face was oddly swollen by bags under her eyes, something that definitely wasn't there before. Matter of fact, her face had an odd tint of paleness splashed all on her skin as if the sun somehow stopped doing effect on it. Her expression, however, was pretty intense.

The few gaps in high above let some sunrays in on them that, by coincidence, emphasized him as he spoke. "Girl woke up?" He said with one brow raised, as if not noticing that he was saying the obvious. She gave him a small crooked smile that lasted one second. "Better not try anything to me and these muscles, got it? I know I'm hot, but don't get any near."

Lux held his stare for one second before glancing away from him, finding the acorn on the grass suddenly interesting. Rakan clicked his tongue and leaned slightly down, filling almost all Lux's radio of vision. She tried to keep her face stoic at seeing him shirtless and practically above her. What was with that clothing, anyways? His nipples were like two beacons of sin. Sinful!

"I had enough of this, so I'll go straight to the point. My fellow human, what the heck's wrong with you?" He sputtered the words, surprising Lux. "Why do you want to take away our magic? Why do you want to pollute it with your filthy hands?" He asked with a frown, stiffening slightly. Lux kept her mouth shut. "Alright, here's what happening if you don't answer me: I crush you with my thumb!"

"You're not the one in charge of interrogating hostages, aren't you?" Lux said bitterly, not meeting his eyes. She didn't have to peek to know that he just did an unbelievable face. "You suck at this. Quit it."

"What?! 'Course I'm on charge! It happens that I'm the best on it!" He yelled, straightening his back quickly. "So spills the beans already or I'll have to slap you!"

"Where's your girlfriend, then? Maybe she dumped you for something better?" She said mockingly, smirking to herself. "I'm sure she does this kind of stuff while you… keep your nails clean."

"I'm a perfectly capable man of doing this, and my nails are always clean no matter what. You're lucky that Xayah decided to save you!" Rakan beamed, annoyed. Lux laughed mentally; she doesn't even need to thinks her sentences. Putting him on the edge was easy. "You'd be dead right now if it wasn't for her. You should be thankful! She's the best."

"Oh my, I forgot to express my gratefulness correctly. Please forgive me for not saying thanks for not have been killed! I'm so glad I was kidnapped instead!" She said, dripping sarcasm off of every single word that came out of her mouth.

"You better be." He said, frowning with slight reluctance. Lux blinked. "Hurry up and tell me already. Why are you here, girl? I don't have all day. Well, maybe I do, but that's none of your business!"

"Umm, what about NO?" Lux answered slyly, shooting a hard glare at him. "Yes, that's good. No."

"Alright, then! You leave me no choice."

Lux's neck contorted some centimetres away from him as she watched how his whole demeanour tightened. He closed his eyes and some golden magic started to surround him. Lux swallowed some saliva and panicked mentally. Was he about to hit her? He tried to punch her in the face before, so why not now? How was her pain endurance?

His magic seemed on point; he got shiny. Lux sought desperately for some light magic but it was for no avail. It was again acting weirdly, as if it was somehow drunk. The dark magic had messed it up again. She tried around for some nature magic only to realise that the feathers fastened around her absorbed the magic that she tried to call in. They got puffed like a sponge before wringing themselves, expulsing just some sparkles.

" _Oh no, no, no, no!"_

His eyes opened up in an instant. Everything around went golden as he gave her a pretty much intense stare that seemed to pierce through her soul. Her mouth was wide open as she inevitably felt some golden magic reaching up for her, getting her disconcerted to the bones. He crouched down on one knee and leaned forwards her just a little, but it still felt like he was on her. His whole face seemed to harden, intensifying his attractiveness. How could be he that fine without even trying? She wondered, and the answer was probably quite easy. But it didn't come up in her mind.

"Just say it, girl." He said softly and slowly, not breaking eye contact with her at any moment.

Lux hummed unconsciously and decided that the warm feeling Rakan's magic was giving at her wasn't that bad. It definitely erased that gloomy aura that surrounded her, and it even managed to get her feeling slightly better. But yet, she wasn't falling for it. That didn't mean that she would let pass the opportunity to mess around with him.

She putted her mask on.

"Oh… I don't know… It's a secret…" She whispered dreamily, getting soft on her face. " _Is he really trying that trick again? This guy is something else._ "

"Really? Spill it! I don't care!" He said eagerly, smiling energetically, leaning down just a little more over her like a child.

"Well, if you really insist…" She muttered back, looking away shyly, biting her lip. "Scoot closer… I can't let anyone know that I told you. I can't risk it."

"Yeah? Come on already!"

Lux looked at him again and almost yelped in surprise at seeing his face only inches away from hers, looking at her with such a great naivety and confidence over his actions. She blinked and smiled softly, trying to not laugh on his face. This was going to be great.

"Alright. This is it." Lux said, making his pupils startle with recognition. She slowly pushed her neck into his direction. "The magic… I… use it because-"

"Because?" He interrupted her impatiently, frowning at her. Lux had the guts to admit that it was incredibly adorable. It would look better once she crush it.

"Well, sometimes I play too hard." She smiled immaculately. Rakan shot her a frown.

"What?"

An instant later, Lux's neck propelled forward in a flash and smacked her head against his, taking the boy by surprise. A loud crack sound echoed through the forest as he let out a scream of surprise, the impact sending a wave of pain through his skull. The power of the hit pushed him back, making to land over his butt on the grass. He whined loudly and sobbed his head with two hands, staring at her with unbelievable eyes.

"You are mental!" He yelled, maybe a little unmanly, scooting away from her. He seethed with indignation before standing up with a jump. He grabbed his cape and caressed it with his fingers. "It's your lucky day; my cape is fine." He said with a glare, frowning at Lux's amused expression, trying really hard to not doing something; probably raking revenge. He tossed his cape behind him and sighed dramatically. "Honey, where are you?! Why did you bump me with the human?! We should be cuddling right now! Her head is ROCK-LIKE!"

"Cheer up. Maybe she dumped you for something better." Lux said with a grin.

"Shut up! That's not true! No one is better than me. I'm the best she ever had!" Rakan shouted back, denying her words with every single fiber of his body.

"Oh you seem pretty convinced. Let's see what happens next."

The trees croaked before Rakan could answer. His face shined on like a birthday boy before he turned to his right, looking deeply into the trees. Lux's brows twisted in confusion before she followed his gaze. Some moments later, after some branches croaking, the figure of Xayah jumped in on their vision directly from above. She hoped between the highness speedily as she descended over them.

Lux sought shelter on the tree as best as she could while Rakan acted first.

"Honey! You back!" He said with truly relief, quickly moving at his girlfriend. Lux wondered if he was truly that worried. It was way too dependent for her liking. "I thought you would never come back!"

Just as his last words was spell, Xayah landed gracefully on the ground, her cape slowly floating straight back into its place. She stared at him with slightly amusement. But the love in her eyes was there. Lux could see it.

"Of course not. You're sticking with me till the day I get killed by the humans." She said jokingly, receiving his tight hug.

"Don't say that. If someone's dying first, then it's me while I see you running away safely. I'll die honourably dancing!"

Rakan crushed Xayah with his arms, making her to hiss slightly for the pain. She was about to say something when something caught her attention on the corner of her eye. She turned her head and spotted the silhouette of Lux slowly creeping away from them with her free feet, doing surprisingly a well job because she was already some meters away from them.

Xayah did know that Rakan loved her. But she had to admit that it almost cost them the human twice.

"Honey. The human's escaping." She said lowly, tapping his chest with her fingers.

Rakan's body froze. His arms forced themselves away from her as he spun around with a panicked face, ready to run at the end of the Earth if necessary. His sharp eyes immediately saw Lux dragging herself, some trees away from them. Without hesitation, he launched himself after her with a jump, running incredibly fast to her position.

"YOU'RE NOT RUNNING AWAY!" He screamed, somehow turning it like a battle cry.

Lux's head twisted around at him with a terrified face before she started to drag again, this time a speedier rate. However, Rakan catch up with her in less than a second. Lux's lungs got overpowered by a heavy weight that crushed against her back. Rakan's arms grabbed her and closed around her body with obnoxious strength. Some air broke free from her mouth before her face slammed on the grass, defeated, and pale as before.

"Babe! I got her! " He cried loudly, picking up Lux easily, showing her off to Xayah.

Xayah shook her head. He was touching another woman, but she just couldn't get angry with him. It was too hard.

…

When her eyes opened up, the conscience hit her immediately. This time, she didn't remember spending a night inside that strange black place inside her mind, so she knew that the cause of her passing out wasn't her magic doing bad things to her. A rush of feelings overpowered her senses afterwards. Some pain stabbed her on the back and she felt half empty. That idiot was heavy, it left a bad pain.

The next group of things she figured out was that she was actually upside down. When her sight cleared from the blurry darkness, she spotted locks of her black hair hanging from her head. Her nose was kind of dirty, and then the dizziness appeared. The flash of golden blinded her for an instant, leaving her at loss; and she could realize at what belonged that colour. Not even her light was that annoying at sight.

Then, she detected a rocking pace. Rakan walked nonchalantly, probably after his girlfriend, humming some weird song she couldn't figure. The movements were steady at the point that she slightly brushed his back with her face, the same happening with her legs but with his chest instead, the same thing repeating on an everlasting cicle.

" _He's carrying me like a dead body._ " She managed to get her first thought, getting annoyed. The dizziness was getting to her this time, and it wasn't because of her magic this time. Her stomach grumbled loudly and she grimaced, whined slightly.

"Oh? The human's awake." Rakan called her out, paying her a half glance through his shoulder. "She seems hungry. What should be do, Xayah?"

"Keep up. We're almost there." She answered lightly, her voice effectively coming from behind Lux. "We'll get some food for her after arriving."

"Yes, Ma'am!" He replied with a firm voice.

Lux was holding back some vomit from exploding out her mouth, pressing her lips tightly against each other. She somehow managed to swallow it back before breathing deeply, coughing a little as response. Rakan snickered a bit, but he didn't say anything. The face of the mage was starting to twist in anger.

"I'm HUNGRY," She beamed gloomily, her voice drawing their attention. "I want something to eat."

Rakan hummed loudly as he played with something shiny in his hand. Lux couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it somehow pissed her off even more.

"What do you say, babe? Should we stop for a bit?" He asked again, looking at Xayah.

"No. We're almost there. Bear it." She simply answered without stopping walking.

And with that, nothing was said. Lux blinked twice, rolling her eyes and trying to glare some daggers to them, but Rakan's arms pinned her tightly against his shoulder. She tried to come up with another bunch of words, but she was out of energy for confrontation. Her head fell like a rock and hanged out of her neck, making her jaw to hit Rakan's back. He didn't seem to notice at all, though.

When was the last time she had to endure the hunger? Years ago in a very unfortunate mission in the woods, ironically. She didn't pass by any animal, kind of fruits or wild vegetables. Her record was a full week without ingesting anything solid. Surprisingly, she could recall that, even in that time, she was feeling better than right now. That kind of training vanished as the years took off.

She could remember however that, in times of needs, anything was edible.

" _Those feathers are way too pretty to be poisoning._ " She thought idly, watching with slight awe the golden feathers that paraded around on Rakan's cape. " _One won't hurt, yes._ "

Biting one of them with her teeth wasn't difficult at all. A good timing in which she brushed again against his back, she lunched forwards and pressed her mouth on one of them. The feather seemed to explode a little bit because some golden glitter flew off her mouth. A tasty, incredibly wonderful flavour flooded her tongue as she felt how the magic flew around inside. Her eyes widened in amazement and she decided it was good.

The feather was devoured alongside his magic with a quiet munch, her stomach grumbling satisfactorily. That was the weirdest thing she ever ate; magic, but who could think it was this tasty? Did she just do something that can be classified as extremely disgusting? Her hunger disagreed completely.

When Xayah heard the same strange sound of something being ripped off, she stopped walking. Rakan stopped as well in perfect timing with her and shot a glance towards her face. When she turned around, however, she paled.

"What's wrong, babe?" Rakan asked with curiosity, leaning on his toes a little.

Xayah's face seemed like she just had seen a ghost.

"Um, darling, please don't panic." She started slowly, looking behind his shoulder. "But the human is biting your cape."

Rakan's eyes seemed to plop off his sockets before his neck twisted around, catching right in time Lux leaning below to bit off another feather. Her mouth was half open when she spotted his heavy glare, her tongue stopping in middle air. They stared for some seconds before she closed her mouth.

"I was hungry."

…

Lux stared boringly at the grass that passed by, ignoring every kind of feeling that her body could possibly try to put on her. She tried to sigh but the feather covering up her mouth didn't allow so. It was tightly fastened.

After that horrifying event, as how Rakan called it, the Vastaya couple decided that maybe it would do to just shut her mouth down with a convenient feather on it till the rest of the way. By some unknown force from above, they didn't find out that she was actually feeding herself over the feathers. It ended up being an act of revenge and rebellion. She was thankful for that, actually.

They'd been moving for some hours and the monotony of the trip was getting on her nerves. On exchange of that, she stopped any kind of effort in breaking free and stood still, gathering more and more energy. Those feathers gave her a nice boost inside and helped her up to get her light reserves filling even faster, something that usually took her a couple of days.

She passed off those hours with just spacing out of the word and testing with hesitance how her light magic was doing. Of course, a plan of action was also an on-going, but her main tool was still recovering. She couldn't hope with any chance to escape without her light magic. The feathers around her body still didn't allow not a little of nature magic in, so she gave that up.

Then, they stopped. Lux snapped out and narrowed her eyes with suspicion. Whenever they stopped, something was about to happen. The grass was not in dominance anymore, as there was some black obscure dirt starting to appear as well. She tried to move her neck to grasp some info from the environment but she found herself being unable to do it. Her muscles were frozen, and they won't move, sending a wave of pain as response. Lux bit her lip and repressed a small sound of groaning.

In fact, her whole senses were weak. The only thing she had some awareness of was the ground below and some sounds she managed to catch. Maybe she wasn't trying that hard.

When Rakan's other arm reached up for hold her legs from the other side, pinning them against his chest, probably to avoid her to falling off (her great mind coming up with that conclusion), she knew something was up. Her face slowly approached down to the ground, and it took her one second to realise that Rakan was flexing his legs. Her very clever mind then also realised that he was ready to jump.

It was like one of those dreams she had once in a while. Everything around seemed to stretch out and blurry, making impossible to recognise anything. The air splashed on her head and legs from above, and she felt like her weight skyrocketed. She screamed for her life as she hugged Rakan's legs with her arms.

One second later, they were dozens of meters in the air. He screamed something at her but she didn't pay attention. Everything was dizzy and she was about to throw up again. Her eyes tightly crossed, she only focused in that it will end soon.

She heard branches croaking, the air being cut in half as they hoped between the trees with some words screamed off. The only thing that mattered was that she was feeling like dying. She remembered those times when she was pushed out till her limits, that bad time she had up in Targon. Was she getting weaker?

Landing on the ground again was like being pulled by a rope directly from her hips. Rakan's shoulder pinned horribly at them as he stood up again, being to first one to do so. The inertia got the worst from her because her body smashed on him right after. A short and sharp cough exploded out her mouth as she plopped on the dirt painfully, her head almost hitting the grass directly.

"Shit! She slipped off!"

Lux coughed a couple of times, trying really hard to not throw her stomach out. The feather that was covering her mouth lied harmlessly besides her, its edges ripped off. Rakan cringed a little and he seemed to not know what to do. He approached a little to Lux with jazz hands, very carefully.

Xayah stared at the feather for some seconds, forgetting about them. Green sparkles burned furiously off the ripped edges, denoting that some magic had been applied to it. She couldn't sense any of it coming from the human, though. An anxious feeling took over, her teeth taking it out on her lips, her face twitching in a troubled one.

"I'm fine… I'm fine." Lux managed to say after a final cough that gave her enough energy to keep up. She tried to say something else, but her tiredness took over and forced her to shut up. She was simply too tired to keep talking. Rakan seemed to give up as well.

"Xayah?"

He looked at her, completely dubitative. She saw him, then Lux, who was still recovering from the fall, but ina very quiet way. His gut dropped at seeing her. She never wears that kind of face on.

"On your back." She blurted out of blue, moving at him. Rakan paid her a puzzled glance. "Put her on your back. We… pushed her too far. Come on, I'll help you."

Xayah walked up to Lux and grabbed her by the armpits, raising her. Rakan blinked and quickly rushed to her front, turning around and crouching down to receive the mage. The Vastaya woman pushed Lux up on his back, undoing the feathers on her arms and putting them above his shoulders and raising her legs so Rakan could grab them as well. Once she was settled up, Xayah stood up, Rakan doing so as well.

"Let's go."

Lux shook uncomfortably on him, not used at all being carried by a stranger, and worse, one of her kidnappers. Her body cringed oddly as she let him be with her, not having enough strength to do anymore. Her eyes half-closed in a permanent effect of the tiredness, making her sight go partial between seeing right and not. And for what she hated herself the most was that actually Rakan's back was really comfortable, probably the feather's doing. All she could manage to do was to dump on him and keep her eyes relatively open, trying to not fall asleep.

Some words were spoken between the couple but she didn't hear anything worth her attention. She didn't know exactly what happened between all that hoping on the trees before, but thanks to that, they now were on a different place than before. The trees were as gigantic as before, but they were less dense, and she could actually see spaces between them. It was less claustrophobic.

Her ears had a symphony of nature sounds everywhere. She could catch birds cheeping and even spotted some wild small animals running around not so far away from them. It was like a completely different word. The trees were glimmer than before, despite having dark colours, and even the dirt gave off a fresh smell of rain. The awkward ambient melted away as she didn't give them any kind of problematic signal. The only thing that denoted she was there was Rakan holding her.

Some time went by.

Out of nothing, she saw one particularly big tower hanging out of the branches of one tree some meters away. Despite being half dead, she caught the silhouette of someone noticing their approaching.

"Great, they know we're here," Xayah said, apparently sounding annoyed. Lux could tell she was lying though.

"This is gonna be awesome! I'm digging to know how everyone's doing!" Rakan answered back with a grin, his movements even more energetic than before.

Lux frowned, disappointed at the halt of the conversation, but the brush of the feathers on her face calmed her down. She would have more chances to gather information. She could use those feathers pretty well. Won't he mind if she takes a bunch of them?

A loud horn echoed through the woods, startling her slightly. When she was about to wonder about it, she heard them chuckling silently, knowingly.

" _This home sounds like kind of ancient._ " She thought, hiding herself in the long feathers. " _More like… a village? Tribe? Some Vastaya people from the League came from tribes as well…_ "

They moved not more than a minute before a tall wall made out of dry dirt and roots that sprawled over it freely appeared in the distance. The thing grew up to fill tons of meters in the air, and despite looking that it was falling over, the roots seemed to hold it in place, apparently contributing with the natural structure. The wall was circular and it going on covering space where she looked. It has its small towers and another she caught another fortified layer right behind it.

" _That doesn't look at all natural. That, or they're in perfect harmony with nature._ "

The sound of the steps suddenly changed to one of gravel-like. Lux peered down and noticed that they were actually walking on small little rocks. Her eyes got a move first on it and advanced to the end of it, right where the wall was. An incredibly big oval-shaped hole with one giant gate made out of metal and hardwood greeted her, wide open. How did she miss that?

Her lips separated from each other as she stared at the small crowd that was creating at the beginning of the gate She didn't need to force her eyes to notice that they were Vastaya as well, the same as Xayah and Rakan. She spotted adults, teens (could they be called like that?) and even kids. They were shouting at them in a language she couldn't understand in a very happy way.

In her eye corner, she spotted Rakan turning his head at Xayah and looking intently at her, having a mental conversation. She looked back at him and sighed before nodding.

"Be careful."

"Oh yeah!" He answered at her with a bright smile. He prepared himself and grabbed Lux's legs safely. The black haired blinked. "YO! EVERYONE! I'M BACK!"

Lux yelped in surprise as he took off running wildly at them, darting through the air like a bullet. Her fingers grabbed on his neck to avoid her back falling off him and grimaced in embarrassment. Rakan skidded on the ground before he yelled in joy at the Vastayas, laughing heartedly. Why is she taking place on this?

The next minute went by with her hiding her face on Rakan's cape as he talked frantically with everyone around again with that strange language, something that made her uneasy. Her cheekbones wrinkled uncomfortably as she caught glimpses of everything around. Xayah caught up with them the next moment, joining the banter as well with a smile, everyone forgetting about the mage for some precious minutes.

It was inevitable someone taking notice of her presence. She wasn't an expert of the subject, but she could easily tell when someone was talking about her.

The words flew off someone's mouth and the ring inside her triggered.

"Oh, she?" Rakan answered peering at her through his shoulder, this time in English. "She is… uh, our... Prisoner?"

Something like "what?" came out from the same person who made the question.

"We need to take her to the Boss." Rakan said with a shrug, looking at Xayah who nodded at him.

"She doesn't looks like a Vastaya. I don't see her… differences." Another voice talked from the other side. Some people hummed in agreement. "From which tribe she comes from?"

Rakan's tongue seemed to tangle around itself.

"She's homeless. We found her in the woods not so far away from her so we thought it was the best to bring her here for now." Xayah said before Rakan could do anything. He shot her a glance, questioning her curse of action, but she shut him with another one.

"Uh, yep. Totally." Rakan said with an innocent grin. Xayah resisted the need to roll her eyes. He wasn't good at lying.

"We'll catch up with you guys later." Xayah stepped in front of Rakan, using her arm to grab his. "I need to talk with him."

"He will be very happy to see you, Xayah." An elderly voice spoke softly.

Xayah was silent for a moment before she nodded.

…

Lux's weird humour sense scored a new joke at saying that she survived the first encounter. After the small greeting the Vastaya couple received, they excused themselves to keep going; mostly Xayah, Rakan seemed ready to grow off roots right there. They said a pretty underlined 'till next time' before stepping in the other side of the wall, with Rakan waving them back with his arm. After the mage recovered from being the centre of attention again, something that hadn't happen in such a long time, the first peek inside left her speechless.

The sight of a hidden, magical village flashed in Lux's eyes, surprising the hell out of her. A dirt street appeared in front of them with two parallel lines of houses at its sides. They had the bases of hardwood and metal while the walls were made of some kind of hard-looking leather. Looking further at her sides, the same thing repeated with more streets. She allowed herself to gape a little after looking up, noticing that there were also buildings hanging out of the trees. Some of them were pinned while some were being held by very thick ropes. Wood bridges were connected between them, and even with a small kind of plaza high above.

Right after passing by the gate, the greetings didn't stop.

Lux's eyes fixed above Rakan's shoulder again when a couple of new voices were heard by her ears. Another pair of Vastayas greeted them with such a fuss that surprised Lux a little. They didn't waste any time to strike up a conversation with the lovers, quickly starting to tell them something that sounded like questions. Rakan smiled happily before he started talking with them in his language, enjoying the attention. Xayah was slightly silent but talked as well when needed. Lux was glad she was good hiding because they didn't noticed the bulge on Rakan's back.

When the mage looked at the new Vastaya guy, curiosity forcing her to do so, she realised that the clothing Rakan had kind of ran in the tribe. He also had a cape, a different green one and maybe not as pretty as Rakan's, but the bare chest was still at sight, something that she still couldn't understand. It was December and it was chilly. When those nipples stood out, she looked away, the ghost of discomfort haunting her. Her attention moved towards the next one; the other woman had a similar appearance with Xayah, the cape apparently being the core of the clothing in there.

Because it was something that happened really often in her life, her luck ran out. This time, the conversation was handled over in their language and it developed the same as before. Some things were said regarding her, and she got all self-conscious at being the attention-drawer. They probably asked who she was and why she was on Rakan's back. Xayah spoke up like before and the matter was done within seconds. The quartet said goodbyes to each other before the lovers started moving again.

Lux decided it was the best to ignore everything for now or else she would get another headache. She chewed on the incredibly sight of the village, watching the people going everywhere doing their daily things. More and more Vastayas stopped to say hi and she didn't bother paying attention. She felt like in that way she could be easily more ignored.

They strolled practically through the middle of the village, the length of the way being considerably longer than she thought. It was like another Ionian city, but this one felt more magical. It definitely hadn't as much commercialization as Eríni, the biggest example of it being a much concurred restaurant that looked more like a family-public house where everyone was welcomed. There were less if anything stores, and the roadside stalls were plentiful. The sky was visible this time thanks to lesser trees; she could already see some starts starting to appear.

She smiled a little when she spotted a group of Vastayas touching some strange instruments in one circular spot in the middle of the street, singing within them and having the time of their lives. She saw another Vastayan couple walking pretty close to each other, having a nice time. She saw a bunch of kids actually dancing and sparring with each other, laughing. It was so normal here. It was kind of different than Demacia.

" _They're people, after all…_ " She thought, humming. _"How come no one knows about this place? Is this really inside the forest?_ "

The fortified wall that surrounded the village appeared again at the distance. Her eyes, widened, lied on the biggest tree she ever, in her life, and inside there. She could swear that it had a dozen of meters wide, and that it reached up to the clouds, the big leaves going even further. She irremediably analysed it, finding another structure on the very top of the tree, right where the roots started to grow to different directions. It was big and it even had a small balcony that was supported by big hardwood pillars that redirected the weight of it to the tree. Pretty cool.

Someone important was up there.

They stopped. Lux gazed at the two brawny, Vastaya men that were guarding the make-shift elevator that leaned towards above. Some white metal with wood formed its shape. It was a medium-sized box with one door of metal bars. It had a pulley wheel above, whoever it was connected to it extended up till the balcony. She had the feeling it was a pretty tough kind of rope.

The Vastaya couple greeted with a smile the guards, another conversation happening. This time, it was shorter. The guards stepped aside after a final word from Xayah. The woman strolled to the elevator, Rakan after her, and they opened the door and stepped in silently. A lever was right beside them in the right wall. After a simply pull of it, the elevator triggered with a click sound and started to rise in the air.

Lux leaned a little over Rakan, looking below. The tall figures of those Vastaya guards got smaller and smaller till the point they weren't recognizable by her human eye, alongside with the village. Every meter up made up the sight beautiful and beautiful. The last time she was this high was when Galio picked her up years ago when she first met him.

"It's beautiful."

Rakan's ears twitched a little at hearing her voice. He took a peek of her through his shoulder while Xayah half-turned her head to look at her. He seemed surprised, but Xayah had an inscrutable face.

"It is. This is our home." Xayah answered, turning to gaze at the village below with Lux. She took some seconds before talking again. "It's what we both are trying to protect. It won't be beautiful anymore if it gets destroyed."

"What? Who are trying to destroy it?" Lux frowned, truly puzzled.

Xayah stare was deep this time. Rakan was silent.

"The humans. They're taking away the magic. The less magic we have, the more life we lose."

Lux muttered a low 'oh' before she rested her head again on the cape, clearly uncomfortable with the dense atmosphere.

" _So they think I'm basically trying to kill them. Perfect. PERFECT. These people…_ " Lux felt bad.

The elevator kept moving up for some seconds at a normal rate, the only entertaining thing was seeing the village getting like a dot in a draw. Rakan was tall enough to do so without stretching that much her neck, so she used it while she could. When the familiar pillars appeared on her sight, Lux knew they were close to an end.

The balcony platform slide from above and lined up with the elevator, stopping only when they were at the same level. The lever emitted another click sound, and it was over. Lux hummed with disappoint.

"I can walk. You don't have to carry me anymore." Lux said monotonously, trying to shake herself off Rakan, the feathers being a really annoying burden.

Rakan looked at Xayah, asking silently for her permission. She gave it some thought before sighing and nodding slowly.

"Alright. Don't try anything or else I'll have Rakan knocking you out." The Vastaya woman warned, walking up to her and undoing the feathers with a wave of her hand.

Lux scoffed. She slowly pulled herself away from Rakan's back and pressed one leg in the elevator, and then the other one when Rakan dropped it. She stretched her whole being before smiling, happy to be free.

"Don't worry; I don't want him above me ever again." Lux reassured bitterly, remembering the sour pain he gave her. He smiled sheepishly. "We're like a hundred of meters up and the only way out is this thing. I think I can only cooperate."

Xayah rolled her eyes before she opened the door again. She gestured Lux to go first. The mage hugged herself as she moved, trying to warm herself up thanks to the cold breeze that was now stabbing her skin. Her first step was hesitant, fearing that the platform could suddenly break. When her feet tapped the wood, and not even a slight crack was heard, she got enough confidence to take over her whole body with her as well to the balcony.

There, some meters away and opposite at the balcony, there was a construction similar to the ones from the village. It rose up almost at the end of the leaves of the giant tree, extending its limits like a spider. It was more like a tree house, but with the tint of… Vastayan? Was on it.

It looked cozier than she thought.

"Let's get moving." Xayah said, getting ahead of them and walking to the entry. Lux followed her right between the two as another whirl of wind knocked off her face some hair. It was like a movie, the odd feeling was there. Xayah grabbed the two layers of hard feather that acted as door and pushed them aside. "Don't touch anything." She warned.

Lux hummed a lazy uh-uh as she moved in as well; building up her expectations of whatever things could be inside. Her eyes darted to every corner of her sockets, trying to see everything and then again she was left surprised, kind of disappointed and maybe a little empty. She may be still hungry.

It was a house, and they were in what seemed like a sort of living.

Lux frowned in confusion as she slowly walked, her boots not doing to best at helping to keep the brown carpet clean. She slipped around like a cat as she tried to figure out the Vastayan furniture set. It was a fairly short tiny table, some couches and one particular big stone fireplace; her mind cracking at the illogic of it. Rakan followed after her letting out a cheerful exclamation when she approached the fireplace, touching with her fingers the rough stone of the chimney.

"Oh! This hasn't changed at all!" He chirped with a grin, glancing around and twirling on his feet. He set off the entry and walked up to the big couch, passing by Xayah and throwing himself on it and resting with a dramatic pose. He sighed as if he just ran a marathon. "You guys go ahead. I'll chill out a little bit. That got me so worn out!"

Xayah rolled her eyes before she strolled to him, her fingers reaching up for his furry ear. A small squeeze and an unmanly squeal later, he was stood up beside his girlfriend with a hurt face, protecting his ear from anymore attacks. Lux gave up in trying to decipher the fireplace and moved to them again, seeing that the circular room had some hallways left to see.

"Follow me. And Rakan, don't get distracted, alright? I need you to keep an eye on her." Xayah warned with a frown, Rakan immediately listening after another 'Yes, Ma'am!' Lux hid behind her hair and snickered.

Lux kept on her inspection of the place as they strolled through the hallway that was in front of them, noticing some pretty paintings that were hung in the wall. It didn't take so long to hit a small room with a wooden spiral staircase, again with some extra hallways to go on. Lux's eyes widened when she looked through one window aside that pointed directly at the opposite side of the village. She leaned just slightly on it, looking how the forest below seemed capable to be crushed by her finger easily if she wished. She even saw some black points with lines that resemblance the shapes of birds.

" _This house is amazing. Kind of unorthodox… But so amazing._ " Lux thought, raising her nose to look at the skies. It was already afternoon now, and that meant two, almost three days out of Eríni. She needed to go back again as soon as she can, but this was needed to clear up this first. It was a pain. " _What if the tree suddenly falls? How they're escaping from here? They're half birds, maybe they can fly or something._ "

"Girl, you're deep in it!"

Lux blinked before she stepped back of the window, turning around to see Xayah and Rakan looking at her. He was lying on the stair while arms crossed, shooting her a questioning glance. Xayah was on the first step of it, giving her the same bored but focused face of hers.

"Sorry, I spaced out." She apologized bluntly, walking to them. "I was actually thinking how cool your cape is." Lux said with a tiny smile.

Rakan's face knocked off and his cocky posture fell apart over surprise. Lux bit her tongue to avoid smiling her amusement off at seeing how he blinked at her compliment and turned to see his cape over his shoulder. Everyone could have seen the display of proudness moving out of his eyes.

"Uh, Really?! I guess you see it! I'm too sexy to be ignored" He said dismissively, working up his back straight up again and smiling cockily towards her, doing something with his arms.

"She's lying, darling." Xayah said from behind, something unreadable being told off her words. "She's trying to not laugh." Lux swallowed back her face. Did she look that shabby?

Rakan seemed that he just got kicked in the gut. He scoffed dramatically.

"You always get angry at women's compliments about me!" He cried, turning to look at her. Xayah's eyes widened a little, her facing twitching a little out of embarrassment. "See?! You just give it away! Can't you be happy?! I'm yours and that's all what matters! No one's winning me over!"

"Rakan! It is not that and you know it!" She yelled at him with narrowed eyes, tightly grabbing the banister with her hand. "I'm just saying she was tricking you! Don't believe whatever she says!"

"So my cape is actually UGLY?!" Rakan beamed, fully turning at her with an attempt of an angry face, turning out to be a broken one. Lux wasn't sure because she wasn't seeing.

The mage simply stared at them as the fight burned up. It was pretty entertaining.

"We'll talk about this later, Rakan!" Xayah hissed. "Shut it!"

And with that, Xayah took off on the stairs, ascending over them quickly. She stopped almost at the end.

"You TWO also come with me."

…

The stabbing-like aura that appeared thanks to the little fight before vanished when they stopped in front of what it seemed the most important room in there. Lux cringed a little around her body as she stared the big entry to another room, also covered in thick leather layers that hanged from the roof. She couldn't see what was next. Xayah turned to see at her.

"Follow me and don't make a noise, understood? Once inside, stay at the entry and don't speak unless you are told to do so." She dictated every single word with a blank tone, clearly not leaving space to answer. Lux nodded and tried to distract herself looking at the holes on her cloak she got after their fight in the woods. Xayah sighed and turned again, facing the front again.

Rakan putted his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it.

"You okay?" He asked concerned, looking at her intently.

Lux lips wrinkled against each other as she bear with the scene, trying to not overthink it. They didn't fight just minutes ago, of course not. Maybe she was getting them clashing. It wouldn't be the first problem she caused.

"Yeah. Just let's get this over with. If everything goes right, we can let her go. She doesn't know how to get here, so it's fine." Xayah answered quietly, barely enough just for both of them to hear.

Lux hummed in agreement, hearing it anyways because her listening has to be also trained, hoping that everything goes okay as well. Rakan nodded at her and then Xayah breathed deeply. She raised both her hands to her mouth and emitted a soft, chirpy sound out of her lips, similar to one a bird would do. The mage raised her brows in interest, and even more when, after one second of the howling, an male voice said something in their language from the other side.

Xayah lowered her hands and she stood even straighter than before, Rakan doing the same as well. Their demeanour changed completely and a serious aura surrounded them. Lux blinked slowly and did the same as well, knowing what that meant; she did it countless times long time ago. The Boss was at the other side, apparently, and he was someone to respect. Her stoic and emotionless face was missing but she left it out because she didn't think it was necessary for now.

The Vastaya woman finally took the step and pushed the leather, moving through it. Rakan followed not behind her but her side, looking even taller than before. Lux slowly went after them, noticing that both their purple and golden capes did a got mix.

The room was an a strange office, nothing she was used to. Lux immediately looked around it almost scarily, noticing bookshelves at her left and a small place to take a load off in the middle with two couches and another shorty table. It had some empty glassed with a bottle aside of what could be some kind of alcohol. A thick, white and brown layer was in the middle of the circular room covering up half of it. There was a huge map pinned at that side-wall, displaying the forest with a very extensive key and looking very steady, which made Lux reconsider if the walls were truly leather or not. In front of her was a huge desk out of dark brown wood with pretty decorations here and there. It was mostly empty, with just a few strange papers, a quill and some ink. What caught her attention was the huge picture window that took over the front wall, pointy directly into the village and further.

Her right was the winner side. There was a tall, brawny man with an incredibly beautiful, long cape of an amethyst colour. It easily reached at the floor being so long, and still it didn't look excessive at all. Lux thought it was cool. Despite not seeing his other side, the man had pretty burgundy hair, similar to Xayah's and she also managed spot some tanned skin. She looked up to his ears, pointy and flurry as well, being a mix between burgundy and yellow. They were touchable.

He was in front of an old rack of dark wood, quite large, with two small doors at opposite edges and two planks. He was in deep thought at the very moment they got in, looking intently at whatever was in front of him, she couldn't tell because he was covering the sight. But when they stepped in, he snapped out of it and turned around.

Lux admitted that the man was as gorgeous as Rakan, from body to face; you couldn't simply turn down like that. Longevity was something normal in here, apparently. The shirtless thing again made itself present and she shyly looked away, rocking her hands behind her back, trying to think in other things.

The Boss eyes widened at the sight of them. Lux heard heavy footsteps towards them and she had to look on that way forcefully because her mind. The Boss closed the distance between him and Xayah and gave her a very tight hug that radiated off love no matter wherever you looked it. Xayah returned the hug without hesitation, a little softer but with the same feeling on it. Lux peered at Rakan, and he didn't look angry. Matter of fact, he was smiling fondly.

" _Who's this man to her? He's not just her boss?_ " She wondered, her eyes starting to ache.

After some seconds, they split apart. Then, the Boss looked at Rakan, and he looked back.

"Aw, come here, you old man!" Rakan yelled with enthusiasm, practically jumping over the other and tangling his arms around him.

The Boss laughed, and his voice sounded younger than Lux would think. He hugged Rakan back tightly.

Lux tried to disappear from the very obvious reencounter scene, feeling extremely out of place. This only happened to her. Her light magic wouldn't do it, anyways. So getting invisible was discarded. Maybe jumping off the tree was a good idea.

They moved back from the embrace and exchanged some words in their language, making Xayah to join at them after some moments. A perfect bubble Vastaya-like surrounded them where she could swear their feathers were glowing… till the Boss noticed her presence. Lux thought very unfortunate of herself.

His happy face slowly melted away; it was something that also happened to her sometimes. His gaze switched in the stoic mode, something that should get her shitting in her pants, but it did anything. She endured worse. Nothing defeated father's in times when she was a child.

The words flew off his mouth. Xayah's face wrinkled a little, as if the bubble actually existed and the leftovers after exploding sprinkled all over her eyes. Lux tried to remember Sona's Ethereal song to calm herself down.

"Yes. She's a human." Xayah answered honestly and flat out. Lux toyed with her tongue inside, wondering if the Vastayas also had the same kind of disliking towards humans as well. It was understandable. They give what they get. She felt embarrassed of her specie out of sudden. "Please hear me out, father."

Lux ho-ho-ed mentally at hearing the last word. All the more reason Rakan wasn't angry. Those both seemed very jealous of each other but the effect just didn't do with him.

"Something's within her. The forest… the forest itself acted on her protection." Xayah said slowly, weirdly, like if those words were just ridiculous to being told by her.

The first emotion that showed off the Boss' face was surprise. She expected him to hide it immediately afterwards, but his face just got soften out of blue, as if he was taking account something. He was still unreadable, though.

"Please, check on her. What I saw… wasn't clear. I couldn't figure it out and it was messy."

Lux frowned. What did she mean by saw? Did it happen while she was unconscious? Despite needing to question it right away, she decided to keep her mouth shut for now. Insolence brought bad things throughout her life.

"It might be something important."

At this point, the Boss' stare was fixed on her, making her slightly uncomfortable. She did hold his eyes, to look away this time was a sign of weakness and she couldn't allow herself to show more than she actually did today and yesterday. His eyes were dark red, a very pretty colour, something that got a little of envy out of her. But when his eyes switched green, she knew she might need to start worrying.

The more he looked at her, the more his face changed. Lux didn't know exactly what he was seeing on her, but the ambient turned tense. He walked up to her and stopped right in front. She had to look up to him because he was a lot taller than her. Maybe he was one head taller?

"What is your name, human?" He asked steadily and without beating around the bush, being the first time Lux heard him speaking English. She thought he couldn't.

His eyes were still green and his gaze seemed to go beyond her soul. She was being read and she didn't like not a bit of it. Was she an Circus spectacle?

"Lucy." The word came out of her mouth before she could answer, flowing as naturally as how she spoke usually.

His face twitched a bit and she managed to identify something related to bewilderment. It disappeared. His body showed off suspicion, how could that be even possible?

"You're lying. What is your true name?" He asked, this time kind of threatening.

Lux frowned deeply, disliking it. How did he know? She didn't need her mask to lie. It was already in her blood and she could do it perfectly, she was pretty sure. Giving off her name shouldn't do any harm.

"You may call me Lux." She said reluctantly, half-breaking eye contact with him. "How did you know?" She couldn't help but ask, truly needing an answer.

Rakan and Xayah watched the exchange silently.

"Your magic. It gets obscure every time you lie." He answered. Lux stared at him, surprised. "My daughter and his boyfriend brought you here to me. Wouldn't you mind if we discuss this properly?"

Lux tried really hard to not seethe. She smiled crookedly. "You mean without them?" She said, pointing towards the lovers. Rakan blinked and Xayah looked intently at her father. "Well, it isn't like I have another choice, do I?"

The man turned and nodded slowly at Xayah, saying something with his eyes. She got the message. The woman turned around without complain and grabbed Rakan by his shoulders, startling him.

"Let's go out." She simply said, starting to push him at the exit.

"What?! Not happening! I wanna hear it!" He cried, putting some resistance. "They're gonna talk about it!"

"Rakan. Out. Now." She hissed, pushing even stronger.

He tried really hard, but his Boyfriend Vow didn't let him to overpower his girlfriend. At the end, they walked out of the office, their voices being heard until the sound of the stairs announced they depart. Lux blinked, and looked back at the Vastaya. He was staring at her. Creepy.

"What is your name? I told mine." She asked innocently and smiling. He paid her a wondering glance, considering her words.

"Ybar." He responded shortly. "Now, I have some questions for you."

Lux looked at him silently. " _Oh, you sure have._ " He seemed pretty straightforward.

"Am I being the only one interrogated here?" She cut him off before he could speak. "Can I get some questions as well?"

He, again, glanced at her for some moments, getting the gears inside his mind working up her words before answering.

"That is fine with me." Ybar replied with his young, kind of harsh voice, walking up towards his desk and leaning down on it, crossing his arms; Lux walked some steps till the middle of the room, finding a cool spot near the couch. He stared at the space for some seconds, sorting out his thoughts before he spoke up again, some seconds later. "I'll go first. Is it fine to you?"

"Go on." Lux simply said. " _Just as cocky like that Rakan guy, uh…_ _It is because I'm an outsider?_ "

"Then. How did you exactly learn to use wild magic?" He began, fixing eye contact with her.

Lux stared at him, slightly confused. Her face lightened up an instant later.

"Oh, by wild magic you mean nature magic?" She said with a questioning face. He paid her a long glance before he nodded, almost hesitantly. "I, well, my grandma kind of introduced it to me. She said I had what takes to wield it." She said, remembering quite well her grandmother's words. Ybar nodded at her. "But wait, why do they keep saying to me that I'm robbing what's theirs? I mean, the magic doesn't unconditionally belong to them!" She said pissed off, referring to Xayah and Rakan.

Ybar shook his head with a compressive look.

"I can't really blame them for that. It's what I thought when I first see you. Lux, you are washed up with wild magic right now." He said.

"Alright. So what? I don't get the problem with that." Lux said, wrinkling her lips.

"You seem to don't understand the meaning of that." He said, narrowing his eyes. Lux glanced at him with the face of 'I clearly don't.' "When comes to magic and using it, there are two ways to do it. Either you were born with a special core to produce your own magic or you were born with a core not being able to produce magic but to use what's around. That's the case with humans." He explained quickly.

" _I read something like that in the book Your Magic._ " Lux thought, nodding slowly. Her amazing memory did something good for her. "Keep on."

"A human being born with something like that is rare; I hadn't the chance of fighting tons of them, just a few. Those who has their core to produce magic get by with themselves until they get tired and the others who use magic around, their cores sieves it in order to not intoxicate the body. This means that no human is able to use directly the wild magic. But you aren't like that. You keep gathering wild raw magic as your wish."

Lux was silent, digesting the words that he just said. " _That… makes sense… Maybe I got sick of using it, but tired of nature magic? That… never happened to me_. _Those first days in the forest simply were too much because I was already stressed for escaping away."_

"So those who are able to do it besides me…" She began quietly, trying to catch up with him, but don't really feeling like to.

"Usually use impure, hurtful methods, never fully, but close enough to have a bit of the power. Those people use the wild magic to wicked goals and they don't care if they're destroying the forest." He completed the sentence, looking tenser than before. Lux felt he still had something to say. "That's why Xayah and Rakan thought you were trying to do something with. Our… encounters with those kinds of people hadn't been good ones. And then you just get the magic without even trying." He said. "I'm wrong; the magic simply comes at you."

Lux blinked a couple of times, her mouth slightly open. Her mind seemed to black out for a moment.

"And that's… kind of the big deal, isn't it?" She spoke with a grimace, not liking where this was going. This sounded weirdly familiar. Everything again was leading towards the same answer.

"It is. We won't know what exactly it is if we don't check it."

Lux's legs got flaccid for a moment and she almost fell over her knees if it wasn't for the couch that was nearby, salving her by just being a support for her arm. Her mind suddenly started to connect knots and she may know what he was referring to, too. She took a deep breath.

"Fine. Do it." She agreed. He raised one brow, clearly doesn't expecting her to be so collaborative. "If and when doesn't involve anything weird, like blood-stuff related or something like that."

He smiled crookedly, finding it amusing.

"It won't. I'm that trusting you won't do anything stupid, too." He said smoothly, standing up on his feet again. Lux frowned directly from the couch.

"Am I not being kind of enough to come here?" She said sarcastically, leaving out the whole kidnapping part. When he smiled at her again with hidden feelings, she knew that it wasn't necessary mentioning it. It was obvious.

He then turned around to the rack and started walk to it. She followed him with her gaze and she was surprised to notice that she missed a stained glass right in the middle of it, right at the same level of that man's head. It had pretty green clean strokes, and she suddenly found herself being unable to not even sense the space that was at the other side. A tiny sapling was inside, and it was incredibly floating in the little cube, some green sparkles coming out of the small amount of dirt and roots it had below.

Ybar did something with his hand that involved his magic, Lux felt it. Then, the glass clicked. His finger somehow managed to grab it and pull it outside like a door, effectively making possible now sense inside. His hands moved up and held the sapling with such a care that left Lux at loss.

The sapling was still floating on his hands with the same green sparkles when he turned around, facing her. His face was surprising, it was stiffened, and his guard was as high as a mountain. Lux's head slightly tilted to one side, knowing perfectly what his look meant. The little plant was important for some reason, and she needed to behave.

He strolled to her, maybe not as fast as Lux thought he would do. He then simply stood up in front of her, don't saying anything. She glanced at him, expecting some words but he was silent, and his face stoic. So Lux looked to his hands.

The poor sapling was ready to kick the bucket. It was dry, its cortex was paper-like and the only leaf at the highest branch threatened to fall off in any moment. It was kind of grey and it simply gave off a bad feeling to her. She wondered why Ybar had this in such a state.

" _Poor little thing_." She couldn't help but think, feeling heartache in her chest. " _What could've happened to you? You should be dead and yet you're still kicking it off. Maybe I can do something…_ "

When her finger slowly stretched out for it, his whole being tense, reacted like very fragile glass that was about to broke. Something really bad could've happened if he hadn't caught the sight of green magic coming out of Lux's hand. He stood frozen on his legs as he watched how she naturally drove the greenness towards the sapling, wrapping it up cautiously. To his complete astonishment, the plant reacted.

The green magic did wonderfulness to it. The tree even cracked slightly before its cortex slightly straightened, getting it in a kind of normal shape instead of the sloping one as before. The greyness mixed up with healthy brown getting some its natural colour back and the dry leaf grew off its missing parts and seemed to shine out its beauty again. And then, just after seeing this, he noticed that the sapling had flown off his hands to above Lux's.

The strength on his legs ditched him. He collapsed on his knees over the floor. Lux's whole body startled and she looked below, an extremely confused face showing off her features.

"W-what happened?" She said, muttering just a little at the beginning. Did she do something wrong? "You fell!"

Ybar seemed completely speechless. His brows were blend on his forehead as he stared at her eyes, incredibleness being almost visible in them. He muttered some things at first but she couldn't understand him, it were merely mumbles. Then, he closed his mouth and opened it immediately after, putting himself together.

"You… you, you really are." He whispered loud enough for her to hear. Lux blinked at him and she shook her head, not getting what he was saying.

"What?"

"You really are the one we all have been waiting all this time." He said, reaching up with both his hand for Lux's. She stared at him, shocked to the bones. "To only one able to make possible the rebirth of the God-Willow Tree. The one from the prophecy."

Lux's whole body paled up and her soul flew out of her body. Her mouth was frozen in a 'o' shape. Ybar's mind apparently clicked because he suddenly dropped her hand and lowered his head as much as he could, kneeling down in front of her respectfully.

"My apologies, I didn't want to be disrespectful. Please, I beg your pardon."

Lux was a husk.

…

"Oh, man! What's taking them so long in there?!" Rakan whined annoyingly as he twisted around in Xayah's big bed in the floor below the office. "This is so unfair! I want to know what's going on in there."

Xayah looked up from the chair that was at the corner of her room and scraped roughly her nails with the purple feather below, sharpening it. She shook her head at him.

"We'll have to wait. You know we can't interfere." She said flat out. "It's something out of our reach." She reminded him, making the feather disappear and taking out another one. She was secretly dying to know as well, but she would never let Rakan know that.

He pouted at her from the bed.

"God, you're so bossy." He said, wrinkling his lips. Xayah was silent for that. The ambient went by like that for some seconds. "…But I like it. It's hot."

Xayah blinked and peered at him.

"Alright. I'll make out with you until your ears bleed."

…

Her head was pounding roughly and the stomach was currently in strike because it had enough nausea. She twitched uncomfortably in the couch, trying to not make eye contact with Ybar, whose body was currently sat down in the couch in front of her, something she managed to get after practically begging him to do so. The sapling floated around her, this time without her intervention, incredibly growing off a second leave.

Ybar seemed that he didn't like being sat down on the couch, and this wasn't going anywhere, so she decided to speak up first.

"I know about the prophecy." She said, turning her head towards him. Ybar's, now again, red eyes got more intense. "The question here is how you know about it."

He gathered his words.

"The prophecy has been taught to our tribe since the first time the Vasthayshai'rei met The Elementalist, even long before we Vastayas were born, during the times of the Rune Wars. The stories said he was a tall, blonde man whose heart brimmed kindness to our specie even in that time when we were considered as monsters. He was the one who planted the God-Willow Tree." He related as if the words were printed in his memory, a sort of homesick feeling coming out his mouth."

The black haired swallowed hard.

"What it is exactly the God-Willow Tree? I… it sounds familiar to me but I still don't know." She asked slowly, squeezing her hands.

"It was the heart of the word. One of the most beautiful things in the world. An immense tree even bigger than the one we are in." Lux's eyes widened. She found hard to believe there was a tree bigger than this one. But the face of Ybar didn't lie. She could see through it. "It was a treasure to us Vastayan, something that The Elementalist gifted us. Our ancestors said that the tree kept in line the magic and purified it with its golden light." He spoke with cherish, as if it was something that just happened yesterday. His face darkened afterwards. "That was until some… strange, snow people invaded us not so long time ago. We managed to beat them off but one of them chopped it off and since then, the magic hasn't been the same. That man disappeared and never knew anything about him."

"That's horrible!" Lux said, horrified at such turning out of events. She bit her lips as she looked back again at the little sapling floating beside her head. "This… could be then…"

Ybar's face got low. His whole demeanour ceased as her words hit him. Lux laughed nervously mentally. She hit one wrong button.

"My mother… She sacrificed her magic in order to save one seed of the God-Willow." He said gloomily, slight unfocused. Lux putted her hand on her chest, trying to calm down is heart that was about to pop off. "Since then, I've been trying to get it to live again, but I always failed. It was impossible to do such a thing for me. Only The Elementalist itself could do it, but he simply disappeared when he got overseas, trying to explore the New World days after the Rune Wars ended. Every Vastayan bend over backwards to find him, but it was for no avail. He simply vanished."

" _Oh my- It's happening again. The headache is real._ " Lux thought, holding her head with her hand. Ybar caught her right in time and he was about to stood up, but she stopped him with a gesture of her hand. "P-please, sit down. I… I… please tell me what's with this behaviour of yours. Why are you treating me like this?"

"It's our mission." He said, getting back down reluctantly.

"What?"

"The Elementalist was said to appear again once the world is again under threat. A treat that not even us and the humans joining together could face." Ybar replied, this time standing up and walking to her. He extended his hand to her chivalrously. Lux grimaced a little but she accepted it anyways, pulling herself up with his help. "Our ancestors said to watch over once The Elementalist is back and help him through whatever he needs. But I guess they didn't know he would come back as a girl. And now, you are on charge of protect the world and balance its magic."

Lux mouth was open once he stopped speaking. She was frozen.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asked, eyeing her up.

Lux barely denied with her head, slowly.

"...Uh… No, I don't."

Ybar blinked at her, not so sure what to say after her answer. Lux let go off his hand and she looked down, hugging her body with both her hands. The man tried to say something, but something flashed in his senses, drawing his attention. He looked below with another kind of sight, spotting the white core of hers flickering, a dark aura appearing around it and starting to prowl around.

" _This… To something like this happening… it's impossible._ " He thought, seeing how the dark aura tried to get in the light core, and failing because the light was too brilliant to it. " _The most incompatibles things in the word… together. She must really be…_ "

Lux moved, snapping him out.

"This is just too much." She muttered, falling over the couch again, this time with a loud thump. He just glanced at her with a twitched face. "I… I spent my whole life trying to do something good for me, always listening my father and mother, doing as they said without complaint. I ran away from home leaving everything behind because of that."

Ybar was silent.

"And then… everyone comes up with this. I've been ignoring it now, but I just don't know if I can do it. I'm… so sorry." She lamented, denying over and over with her head, her voice breaking a little.

"That's fine to feel."

Lux's cheeks pumped up and itched. She slowly looked up to him with troubled face, meeting his gaze. He was crossed arms, his posture straightened and seeming as taller as ever.

"I can't imagine what you currently are feeling." He spoke slowly, his eyes half-open, like recalling something. "I may have an idea, but it's nowhere close to your situation. You were alone and I can't do anything to help with that." The words were said like sharpened bullets. Lux felt a bitter stabbing in her heart. "But… It is never wise to take a huge decision right away. I'm afraid to say that this is not something that you could run away off."

The words were cruel. Lux wanted to get angry at him but the logic was there, and she simply couldn't work against it.

" _It is better to live without having to worry about the prophecy; it will catch up to you by itself."_ That was what Dante said to her, her head remembered it when she sobbed a little.

Was he right? Was she breaking her head for something that she couldn't avoid? Was she doomed? Lux smiled crookedly, frustratingly, her teeth tightening on each other, her eyes getting red and swollen. But she couldn't shed a single tear. Wasting her energies crying it away simply will get her down. She wanted to do it so hard yet her mind didn't let her do so. She was tired.

"Then what should I do?" Lux asked sourly, snapping at him with a wrinkled, angry face. "I am at astray. I don't know what to do. I'm just wandering around."

Ybar crouched down, stopping at the same level as her. Lux lowered her head and stared at him dead in the eye, her face emotionless.

"Listen closely when I say this." He said roughly. "You aren't alone. We are with you, and I'm pretty sure you have people you care about. Don't forget them."

Her face softened and shattered in a million of pieces. She looked away, crying some tears all of a sudden.

"You can go either the easy way or the hard one. I'm offering you a hand, and I want you to take it."

…

"Wait, it just hit me."

Xayah was in middle way biting his lips when he stopped her. He turned his head away from her and used his hand to support his face on the pillow, looking at the nothing while he twitched his burrows in thought. He, of course, had to move his leg as well to complete the thinking pose.

Xayah glared daggers at him, not liking being interrupted.

"When do we now when they're done? I mean, Boss' office is all the way up there and where down here." He reasoned, nodding at himself after saying so.

Xayah blinked. He was right.

"What if something went wrong? That chick had those weird lasers and she could make herself INVISIBLE!" Rakan suddenly screamed, freaking out. "Boss is really tough, maybe not as me, of course, but what if…?!"

Xayah was already storming out of the room.

"Babe, wait! You didn't give me that kiss!" He cried, going right after her.

…

"I need to tell someone first. I need to say goodbye to her." She said weakly, putting some effort to stand on her legs as she glared trough the picture window of the office, still receiving the outstanding sight of the village above.

Ybar looked at her, standing at her side.

"Whatever you wish. We'll be waiting for you no matter what." He answered, turning around.

Lux laughed nervously, feeling a little flustered. She turned around, too, feeling that this was the end of the meeting.

"It is really okay? Won't it be a problem for you? It seems like Vastaya people kind of dislike humans." She said with her lips furrowed in concern, feeling a little concerned.

Ybar shook it off with his hand.

"Nonsense. You will have a good welcome along with my people. I'm pretty sure almost every single Vastayan, especially the Lhotlan tribe, knows about the prophecy." He reached up for her shoulders with his arms, squeezing them friendly. "I promise we'll take care of you."

" _Well… If you look at me like that…_ " Lux thought, putting a tiny smile on her face at the red stare from him. "Alright."

Loud steps come from the hallway and then the thick leather from the exit were pushed, the figure of Xayah appearing immediately after. She stared at them with one of the most confused faces ever. Ybar let Lux go and looked at her.

"Father? What happened?" She asked with a strange voice, not understanding what she just saw.

Ybar passed behind Lux and walked to his daughter.

" _Oh, no…_ " Lux thought from behind, grabbing the hood from her cloak and hiding her head in it.

"Xayah. Gather everyone. I have something to tell you all."

…

 **I never thought this story could have this turn of events!**

 **Next chapter probably will take more than since I'm going on Holidays. The next one probably will be called Prism. Try figuring it out! Till next time.**

 **Don't forget to review.**


	7. Hiatus note

**HIATUS NOTE**

 **Hi guys. I'm sorry if I haven't given you any kind of glimpse of if I'm alive or not, seriously. The thing is… I have started on English Institute, yes finally, so that's how it is. Now I get some of the silly mistakes you guys have pointed out to me. I really tried my best, but it's fine.**

 **So, until I feel like my level is good enough, I will start publishing things again. I'll be writing a new story, very likely. Of course, a League of Legends story with Lux and all.**

 **But before that, I'm going to be missing for a while. I just wanted you guys to know.**

 **I may be back at the end of the year (maybe past November,) or I may be here sooner. I really hope you will not forget about me lol. Thank you for reading! I'll be back!**

 **Bye!**


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